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i have heard of this technique being used in reading books with children at school, although I haven't heard of it being applied to music. I must look in to it though, as we get a few dyslexic kids at school.

The Lisa Childs method is good for dyslexics too; it has coloured stickers on the keys which you eventually remove as the colours eventually get phased out. Childs Piano Method, I think.

Learning by colour is a fairly common early phase to teaching music. I remember watching a clip of someone demonstrating their teaching resource that taught notes on the staff using colour, the aim being to teaching people to scan through the music quickly.

I have seen similar resources for classroom for introducing music notation and this is becoming more and more popular. In fact, picking up on something that Joseph said, teaching music reading by colour is so much more common than the reading by colour reading books, which are used in very extreme and rather isolated cases to date.

So much so that there are even pianos out their that use colour coding for the keys. I found this link to demonstrate:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VOb2pPrwVcU

Thanks for pointing me this way Dave.

The playing with colour was really interesting. I think I have just got to kind of build up a photographic memory of the notes of the stave now.

I am ok with five fingers on right hand but everything else I have to work my way up and down the stave while I learn a piece, until I learn it parrot fashion, not ideal if I ever want to read with any speed... must be patient.

Hi Dave,

I'm no expert, but I'd say it would very much depend on what causes her restriction, so ligaments/tendons/muscles or bones. If it's not bones, then I recon piano playing would definitely be great therapy, if bones, then the restriction would always be there, and someone would have to show her a modified way of playing to make it comfortable for her.

I have a different problem, not just my occasionally numb hands... I was taught to touch-type at school on manual typewriters and that takes quite a lot of finger strength and with that and continuing to type over the last 25 or so years and given me some habits that I am having trouble breaking at the piano. My left thumb tends to stick up in the air, my left index finger will shoot forwards, the little finger and ring finger of my right hand will tend to curl under, I could go on! As I type most of my working life, I am changing my habits there especially trying to keep my thumb tamed. It's amazing how many triping mistakes I make when I do that, but it's already made a difference to how I am on the piano.

The playing by colours thing is fascinating. I wonder if it would work for some autistic spectrum children and adults too?

Jan
xx

Actually, thinking about what I just said, aren't autistic people often gifted in art and music anyway?

J

Mostly autistic savants, I think, depending on their particular hidden ability; there's an amazing case of an English boy (living in America)called Leslie who couldn't hold a knife and fork, yet could perform Tchaikowski faultlessly on the piano...