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In a message dated 7/26/02 9:38:59 AM, zenmomma@... writes:

<< He sees pictures in his head when he reads. Much more
vivid than any image I get. When he reads a story there's an actual movie
running in his brain. It's a movie he can rewind, pause or fast forward too.
That's a HUGE strength. But it didn't work well with phonics for him.
>>

Lest anyone say that's not the right way, it's the way manual sign languages
work. They show actions and things and ideas by whole-picture symbols.
What gets spelled out will only be the names of people and places,
books--"Proper nouns." And similarly with reading, it's possible to read by
sight without thinking of the sounds of the words--straight from word to
idea, only having to stop and read phonetically the names of places and
people (and new words).

When I read music I don't think of the names of the notes first. I have to
warm up with the instrument I'm using (whether a C or an F recorder) and
sometimes I have to remind my hands with an easy piece about bass clef if I
haven't played piano for a while. But once the brain says "I remember," the
verbal part of it drops out completely, and my eyes translate the music
straight to what my hands are doing.

I can play piano and talk, if the music is familiar.

On rhythms, I read them in phrase, as pictures. I don't count triplets or
quarters and sixteenths. I see the picture and if it's a familiar rhythm I
read it like reading a sight word.

I don't think letters when I type. So when I play typing games which have
letters in isolation from words, I have a harder time than if the game
involves typing words.

Sandra

Tia Leschke

>
>When I read music I don't think of the names of the notes first. I have to
>warm up with the instrument I'm using (whether a C or an F recorder) and
>sometimes I have to remind my hands with an easy piece about bass clef if I
>haven't played piano for a while. But once the brain says "I remember," the
>verbal part of it drops out completely, and my eyes translate the music
>straight to what my hands are doing.

Absolutely! I do that. And as a horn player, I frequently have to
transpose music at sight. I just click my brain into the new key. If I
have to play in E, my mind just automatically fingers each note a half step
down. If it's Eb, I'll play down a whole step, without thinking about
it. If a piece changes key in the middle, I sometimes have to write in the
names of the first few notes, just to get me in gear. I'll have to write
in more of the notes if it's a key I don't play in very often or there are
lots of accidentals to confuse things.


>I can play piano and talk, if the music is familiar.

I can't do that with the horn. <g> I'm learning to do it with the
cello. It's just that I'm not used to being able to talk and play at the
same time.


>On rhythms, I read them in phrase, as pictures. I don't count triplets or
>quarters and sixteenths. I see the picture and if it's a familiar rhythm I
>read it like reading a sight word.

Yes. And with unfamiliar rhythms I sometimes have to actually mark the
down and up beats. That would be like sounding out unfamiliar words.


>I don't think letters when I type. So when I play typing games which have
>letters in isolation from words, I have a harder time than if the game
>involves typing words.

I can type quite fast if I have the use of both my hands. If I'm doing
something with my left hand and trying to type with just my right hand, my
speed goes *way* down because I have to actually think about where all the
letters are. My fingers know where they are without my thinking about them
when I use both hands.
Tia

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt
*********************************************
Tia Leschke
leschke@...
On Vancouver Island