Abstract:

Toy Musical Notes (TMN) method is an innovative musical method including new notation system of only few signs easy to discriminate, involving reading and playing music, integrated the computer program “The House of Sounds”, to develop reading and musical readiness. The explicitly instruction of the letters: consonants and vowels are not enough to help many young children to achieve reading acquisition. TMN completes the general components that implicitly underlie alphabetical languages and paves the way to succeed in reading acquisition and comprehension.
A third study comprised 120 pre-school children in experiment group, who studied TMN, while 25 control group children studied non-musical program. The experiment group built “first reading” schema in children's mind through explicit general reading components using the TMN notation system: memory aids, a few easily identified signs, logical hierarchies, computer-games, and promoting creativity through developing reading skills.
The experiment group had significantly higher results in musical and text reading abilities than the control group. The weaker half of the experimental group advanced significantly more in reading and musical abilities than the stronger half, and the gap between the halves closed within eight months. The benefits of learning music prior to text reading became evident.

Keywords:

learning and reading readiness, Early children literacy, Music influence on cognition, first and second reading.