Advice sought on Music Note Reading and Maths

[Guest guest]

I am experiencing some learning challenges with my nine year old

daughter and wonder firstly whether they are inter-related and secondly

whether there may be an underlying developmental consideration. Sorry,

the post is fairly long and may ultimately not have an answer in this

forum, but at this point I want to look at the all angles and properly

understand the issue before deciding what needs to be done(if anything

at all).

Caitlin has piano lessons and when it comes to reading the notes, beats

per bar, etc we're getting nowhere. She plays beautifully, but

entirely by ear, memory and copying. An important point to note here,

would be that early on, there was a great deal of desire to be

competing and playing on the same level as her older brother. Some

important developmental building blocks were jumped over in her

enthusiasm to compete. I believe we've taken stock of that and tried

to go back and develop those stepping stones on which additional

incremental learning can occur.

Despite a great deal of attention and encouragement Caitlin appears

unable to recognize when one note on a music score is written right

next to the other (e.g. F, G for all you musos) that this translates to

two notes next to each other on the piano. If she is able to refer

back to a note on the same line she has previously been shown, she will

make the connection. Take a break for a day and its start again from

the beginning. She also has problems retaining what the count of beats

per bar should be. Count it together, then two seconds later, she

can't count them on her own.

With basic maths; Addition and subtraction not too bad, but very slow,

as if she is adding with fingers and toes. We've been over and over the

tables. Retention should be kicking in with the amount of repetition

we've done. Multiplication is painful. A sample conversation might go

something like this... What's 4 x 8? 32, good. What's 8 x 4? 61. With

the simple multiplication, not so bad.

She appears not to see that forwards and backwards are the same.

Retention period is limited, but just with maths and music reading.

Caitlin in all other aspects functions well, is willing to please and

tries hard.

Another consideration is whether there is a competitive issue with an

older brother again. His maths is excellent (above average). Once

again, we've tried to take stock of that and ensure Caitlin does not

jump ahead and then find herself without the learning blocks to connect

new learning to.

What is/are the 10/20 location(s) for maths?

Are they the same for music?

Can anyone confirm (or otherwise) whether there is a connection between

maths and music?

Thanks in advance.