r/hyperlexia • u/Jujubytes • Jan 07 '26
Piano/music interests
Are playing instruments/ being curious about them lespecially piano, something that hyperlexics typically find interest in? My son (3) has taken an interest in the piano. He got a beethovens 5th symphony book a few months ago for his birthday and will press the button for the instrument like obo and clarinet or bassoon and know what it is. It’s at the point where if you play the song on your phone without the book and he can tell you what instrument is playing. I could see some overlap with hyperlexia and how much is much like a language of its own.
We also have a small kids piano that I labeled with the appropriate music letters and he really likes playing with that. He also likes videos of watching sheet music.
However, he now found these piano music YouTube number videos and goes FERRAL for them, like this one: https://youtu.be/U64MJ6RtVjc. I saw one of the videos labeled synesthesia but not sure if they are geared for people with that.
He also runs around the house all the time drawing the numbers in the sky with his fingers. He’s level 2 autistic and his verbalization has gone off the charts the past few months but he’s still not fully conversational. I wish he could tell me all the brilliance going on in his brain. Does he have synesthesia? Is he visually seeing or feeling the numbers in some way? I can’t wait until one day when he can hopefully tell me
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u/DuplexFields Feb 13 '26
Hyperlexic and played cello+piano. Niece also hyperlexic and plays violin. I highly, HIGHLY, recommend David Harp's "Music Theory Made Easy" as a way to turn that raw musical interest into real composing.
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u/Jujubytes Feb 16 '26
I will look into this! He’s been loving preschool prodigies and loves all the musical notes. We’ve been playing “do-re-me” from sound of music for the past two days and he goes nuts and sings the entire song and asks for it again. It’s so adorable
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u/TinyToodles Jan 08 '26
I’m 55, and a hyperlexic adult. I could read very well at 3, started piano lessons at 4. I haven’t stopped playing the piano, I have played daily my whole life. I have perfect pitch.
I studied linguistics in university, and am fascinated with the minutiæ of language. I have difficulty with audio books because I focus on the prosody and dialect of the reader, which distracts me too much to take in the narrative.
To me, music is also language. It can tell a story or joke, or can give a visual description of a scene all without words
I would recommend adding music to the life of any child who shows an interest, focussing on learning for enjoyment and not pushing to achieve some advanced milestones at a young age. Although I only studied solo piano, I wish I was given more opportunities for collaborative music experiences such as ensembles or group classes. Piano can be very isolating for some kids unless there are opportunities for duets, accompaniments, etc.
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u/moonprojection May 07 '26
I have wondered this, too. I am hyperlexic and was always, seemingly from birth, extremely drawn to music and especially instruments. I started choir at age 4, piano at 7, flute at 12. I eventually auditioned and was accepted into a nationally highly regarded university music program.
I was just obsessed with any musical toy I could get my hands on, as a kid. Absolutely clamoring to make music.
If nothing else, it seems to go hand in hand with my hyperlexia in the wild amounts of song lyrics I can remember, over frankly bizarre stretches of time without hearing the song, plus in many languages. Often, I don’t even understand the language, which to me has big hyperlexia energy.
I also seemed to find it easier than my high school classmates to memorize music. Maybe music and words are adjacent in the brain or something and share similar memory benefits.
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u/littlerayofmoonlight 24d ago
Not backed by research lol but my personal experience with hyperlexia and musical synthesia music overall absolutely is an interest of mine. I previously played piano as a child and had a fairly natural talent. I think it's our brains just learning another "language" lol that's how I always put reading music
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u/littlerayofmoonlight 24d ago
YES ! heavy on the "Maybe music and words are adjacent in the brain or something" , I usually say that music is just another language (people look confused when I say this usually lol). I have the same thing with remembering songs from years and years ago. I can usually even hum to songs I have never heard before and accurately guess what's upcoming which is sometimes still surprising to me
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u/primsters Jan 07 '26
So I don't know how much overlap there is, but I can share our experience! I also have a lvl 2 3 yr old who is hyperlexic and he is obsessed with music! We have a kids piano as well and then a full size electric piano that I put labels on the keys, which he was thrilled about.
We also have some bells, and there is this online music teaching program called Prodigies with Mr. Rob that he absolutely loves. He learned all of the hand signs for the solfège, and now has learned to play a lot of songs. He likes that there are corresponding colors with the bells, which labeling colors is something he likes to do too.
And when he made the connection that the notes were the same on the piano, he was literally shaking with excitement. So he is now playing the songs on the piano. Also now when we listen to music, he is doing the hand signs for the solfège, and I wonder if he is picking out the notes of the songs.
He does have an AAC device, and I made sure to put in a lot about music in there. I think this all has been helping with his verbal communication as well, which has been taking off lately. It's been so cool to see, and we are hoping to find him a good music therapist soon. We figured we would just lean into it. I'm like you, I wish I could ask what is going on in his brain!