The Music Literacy Lab
The Music Literacy Lab is a course for high school violin and viola students who are finding it challenging to keep up with music that is demanding more and more from them in terms of skills and reading. Students who are also planning to take the AP Music Theory course and exam will find that improving fundamental music literacy skills can be the difference between happy success and overwhelming frustration.
When reading music requires so much effort that there's no attention left for tone, expression, or simply enjoying what you're playing — that's a literacy gap, and it's fixable.
Every student can have the foundation they need to succeed as a solid and valued high school string player. What they are missing is a comprehensive approach to understanding and using music literacy skills in their own playing.
The Music Literacy Lab is carefully crafted to help students build on the skills they have gathered already. They will form the knowledge needed to read and interpret increasingly complex music, and gain an understanding of how music literacy forms the basis for their own instrumental awareness and technique. Students will emerge from the course with a renewed sense of what's possible in their own playing, and a new level of inspiration for the adventure of string playing.
The Music Literacy Lab is an online course that will take place over Zoom between June 1 and July 31, 2026. Classes are an hour long and will be held twice weekly, on Mondays at 7:00 p.m. and Thursdays at 3:00 p.m. Each class will be recorded, and a short recap video will be created following each class. There will be outside work to help the student create meaningful new pathways in their thinking and playing, about 20-30 minutes per day. A workbook will be issued at the start of the course.
Keyboard access is necessary, but if a student does not have access to an actual keyboard, there are several online keyboards which are completely sufficient for our purposes.
Class size is limited to 15 students.
Cost for the course, including materials (videos and workbook) and access to the teacher for any questions that may come up is $750.
Limited scholarship assistance is available for students with demonstrated financial need.
Please reach out directly to discuss at martha.carapetyan@gmail.com
FAQs
Why should I take this course if I can already read music on my instrument?
That depends on what you want to try to do in the future. If you can read the music that you really want to play without much trouble and without having to work hard to “figure out” what the notes are, then you probably don’t need this course.
If you are planning to take AP Music Theory soon (as in, next school year) and you don’t know all your keys, intervals, triads and basic rhythmic subdivisions at a pretty much automatic level, then this course can help you prepare.
If you know you could play your instrument with more passion and beauty if you weren’t struggling to figure out the notes and rhythms, then this course can help you achieve a higher level of playing by making the reading process more automatic.
If you have convinced yourself that other players who have reached a higher level than you have are just “more talented” then this course may also be for you. Often we are held back by our struggle to understand how the music is constructed. When that struggle eases or goes away entirely, then you often find that you have more energy available to develop your playing at a higher and higher level. Talent usually turns out to be a product of hard work accompanied by an appropriate level of learning about the elements of music.
Why should I take this course if I can find all of this information elsewhere, through YouTube or an AI agent?
That’s a great question!! The learning in this course is not comprised of super secret materials or “tricks of the trade.” The building blocks are available to anyone who wants to figure out this stuff on their own.
There are two things that may prevent most students from learning this stuff on their own. Sequencing of the learning materials really matters when developing music literacy. Knowing what to study in what order matters. Of course, everyone learns a little differently, and our course will allow for flexibility in the way that the teacher observes is necessary.
Beyond that, the second impediment to learning on one’s own is that a high degree of repetition is needed to learn the “language” of written music. That usually means more repetition than most students want to do on their own. Studying, practicing and learning together in a class, guided by a caring and creative teacher, ensures a higher level of success and enjoyment for most students.
9 weeks of classes in the summer is a pretty tall order for consistent attendance. What if I/my child can’t attend every class?
I would be surprised if anyone DID attend every class! I expect students to miss one or two classes at some point in the course.
Every class will be recorded, and will be followed by a one-page summary and a 3-5 minute video recap of the class.
Students are expected to continue learning between classes. Every week, a one-page list of activities will be provided, with Google Classroom links to any online learning material required. If students are practicing every day 20-30 minutes and attending as many classes as possible, learning can be robust and continuous all summer.
Where will classes be held?
What do I need to have for the course, in terms of materials and tools?
While I wish we could gather in person to study this material, this class will be fully online through Zoom.
You will need:
Your instrument
A notebook for taking notes
A place to attend class that isn’t too busy or noisy (or a pair of good headphones if you can’t be somewhere quiet)
A keyboard, but a good online keyboard (like the one at www.musicca.com) would be sufficient
A small whiteboard and markers with a musical staff on it for class participation. I will provide those to all students who are registered
A laptop or tablet with a camera to attend Zoom class on (using your phone will work, but tends to make participation more difficult)
A desk or music stand for your whiteboard, as well as any music we’ll be reading
A stack of music you have sitting around - old solos and etudes, scales, orchestra and chamber music parts. Anything you have will be helpful!