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About reading: I have found that the more natural it is for young students to memorize, they more they tend to avoid reading for the simple reason that, for them, memorizing is easier. They develop from the start the habit of deciphering music, measure by measure, line by line, then speeding it up without or almost without the music. The only consistently effective thing I have found to counter this, early, is to give such students one or two new pages each week as a "challenge", to work out at home. Actually, there is another thing: continually bombard them with new music, because these really quick memorizers get things so fast that they may not be reading much at all after the second or third run-through. Transfer students are the most difficult challenge. Often they have become very good at memorizing and no longer think that reading is even a useful skill.

About developing the ear: it is terribly neglected by *some* teachers who stress reading but who do not the WHYS of how music is made.

There are books known as "Notespellers" that you can buy online or at most music shops. They are written for all levels. The neat thing about these worksheets is that you can make numerous copies of each sheet

Actually, unless the writers stipulate in writing that you have their permission to make copies, you can't copy note spellers. To circumvent that, I make my own note spellers.

But you are absolutely right about those weak readers.

I would argue that there is a common sense factor here.

I would not make copies of anything that is copyrighted. But if a student, for example, or a student's parents copies pages from a note-speller so that their son or daughter can do the page more than once, I certainly would have no objection.

(By the way, I also do all my own materials...)