Can reading skills which are developed through the reading of music be transferred to benefit the early decoding of text

This study reports on a randomised control trial which examined whether a 6-week intervention of music reading through recorder playing would have an effect on phonic decoding skills in children (n=50) aged 5-6. The study was conducted by recruiting matched randomised intervention and control groups from two Year 1 classes in a Primary school in North West Kent, England. Pre- and post-tests measured the recognition fluency of single-letter graphemes; clusters and digraphs; and nonsense words. The children in the intervention group showed greater gains in their decoding of clusters and digraphs, and of nonsense words, and overall, than did those in the control group. Although the overall result was not statistically significant (t = 1.061; df = 48; one-tailed p = 0.147), there was a modest positive effect size of d = 0.29. Trends in the results suggested a hypothesis (which would, however, need further testing for stronger support) that the synchronous learning of simple formal music notation can have a beneficial effect on the development of phonic decoding skills.