Creating a Screening Tool for Dysmusia: Establishing a Baseline for Music Reading, Music Writing, and Audiation Tests with Young Piano Students

Dysmusia, likely a type of dyslexia in the music domain, is of particular importance to piano students as the complexity of two-staff reading and coordination requirements of piano playing have led to teachers and students alike reporting and observing challenges. As research in this field has not yet expanded to measurement, our overarching aim was the proposal of a screening tool for dysmusia, first tested with young piano students without suspected dysmusia, that could contribute baseline data and reflect tentative relationships between the most reported dysmusia manifestations: music reading, music writing, and audiation. Twenty-four piano students completed tests on paired music reading and writing conditions, sight-reading, and audiation. The key findings were that participants with a higher level of music sight-reading proficiency performed more accurately on paired tests compared to the lower group, that the music reading tests were more difficult than the writing tests, and that music reading expertise had no significant bearing on audiation performance.