The Power of Music Literacy: Emotional and Expressive Growth (Blog Series 3 of 13)

How Music Literacy Helps Us Feel More Deeply and Express More Fully

Music is a language of emotion. Long before we learn to speak, we respond to lullabies, rhythms, and tones of voice. We sing when we’re joyful, hum when we’re anxious, and find comfort in the familiar soundtracks of our lives. But what happens when we go beyond just listening—and begin to read and write the language of music?

Music literacy doesn’t replace feeling—it amplifies it. When we read music, we’re not just following notes—we’re learning how to shape emotion into sound with intention. We gain the ability to explore what we feel, to understand what others have felt, and to express emotions we might not yet have words for.

In this post, we explore how music literacy enhances our emotional life, increases expressive range, and supports mental well-being—for children, teens, adults, and lifelong learners.

When a student learns to read music, they aren’t just gaining technical ability—they’re learning how to express emotion in detail and with depth. A written phrase can suggest a mood: gentle, intense, uncertain, hopeful. But it also invites interpretation. There is no single “correct” way to play with feeling—only a more honest or more thoughtful one.

This is where music literacy makes a difference.

A student who reads music begins to see patterns not just as sound, but as story. The phrase that rises and falls like a sigh. The rhythm that races like a heartbeat. The silence that speaks louder than a note. The markings on the page—like crescendo, legato, or fermata—become tools to shape emotional truth.

Just as a writer learns to express emotion through vocabulary and sentence structure, a musically literate student learns to express feeling through dynamics, articulation, tempo, harmony, and silence.

Reading music gives the musician choices, and with those choices, comes expressive power.

The arts give us a safe place to explore emotions—especially the complex or difficult ones. For many students, especially those who struggle to express themselves verbally, music becomes a channel for joy, grief, longing, anger, and hope.

Music literacy enhances that process. It adds structure to expression. It allows a student to explore not only how they feel, but how to express it clearly and meaningfully.

A soft dynamic marking becomes a whisper of vulnerability.

A syncopated rhythm becomes a pulse of excitement or disruption.

A sudden rest becomes a moment of internal reflection.

A shift to minor key expresses tenderness or melancholy.

A return to a major chord restores balance or hope.

This interplay between emotion and structure can be deeply healing. It helps students learn that feelings can be understood, shaped, and shared—not just endured.

And unlike verbal expression, music often allows students to say what they feel without having to explain it. This is especially valuable for children or teens navigating complex emotional experiences, or adults returning to music in moments of loss, transition, or self-discovery.

Reading music isn’t just about what you play—it’s also about how you listen.

Musically literate individuals often become more emotionally attuned because they learn to observe nuance, respond to tone, and attend to subtle shifts in dynamic, color, and phrasing. These are the same skills that support emotional intelligence in everyday life:

Noticing tone and body language in conversation

Recognizing when someone is holding back or over-expressing

Sensing timing—when to speak, when to listen, when to pause

Building empathy by interpreting others’ creative expression

In ensemble playing, these skills are magnified. Students must listen deeply to one another, stay connected through timing and feel, and adapt their own playing to support the group. This creates an environment of mutual awareness, cooperation, and emotional sensitivity.

Many students, especially adolescents, struggle with questions of identity and self-worth. Music literacy gives them a way to define themselves—not through comparison or performance, but through authentic creative voice.

When students learn to read and write music, they begin to understand how others have expressed themselves through sound. They also gain the tools to do the same. A melody becomes a journal entry. A harmonic progression becomes a reflection of mood. A piece of music becomes a personal signature—as unique as a fingerprint.

And unlike improvisation alone, which can feel exposed or overwhelming, reading and composing within a structure allows students to build their voice gradually, with support and clarity. They can return to the page, revise their choices, and shape their message.

Music literacy gives permission to speak—and the vocabulary to say what matters.

In moments of sorrow, transition, or loss, music often becomes a companion. It comforts where words fail. It gives shape to what feels ungraspable. And it allows people to process pain without having to narrate it.

When a student or adult can read music, they can choose what to play—and how to play it—in a way that matches their emotional state. They are not limited to the mood of a recording or reliant on memory. They can sit down with a score, find the right piece, and bring it to life in their own way, on their own terms.

I’ve seen students turn to music after the loss of a grandparent, during a period of isolation, or while navigating difficult family changes. Sometimes they don’t even talk about it. They just return to the music—again and again. Over time, their tone softens, their phrasing deepens, and a quiet kind of healing unfolds.

This process isn’t about performance. It’s about personal transformation. And it’s only made possible when the tools of music literacy are in place—when the student has the freedom to choose, read, and express at their own pace.

Music also connects us to something bigger than ourselves. When we sing in a choir, play in an orchestra, or read through a score that’s been passed down for centuries, we tap into collective emotional memory.

A hymn, a folk tune, or a national anthem carries the weight of community history and cultural identity. Reading music allows us to engage with those traditions intentionally, to honor them with care, and to understand the emotional vocabulary of generations before us.

In many parts of the world, music literacy is tied directly to cultural storytelling. A Brazilian choro melody, an Argentine tango, a European choral mass—each contains not only artistic ideas but also emotional values rooted in the lives of real people.

By becoming musically literate, students don’t just consume music—they enter into its emotional ancestry.

One of the most exciting outcomes of music literacy is the ability to create.

When students learn to read music, they also learn to write it. And in doing so, they gain the power to shape their emotions into something lasting.

A child writes a lullaby for their baby sibling.

A teen scores a short film or video game track.

An adult composes a piece in memory of a loved one.

A student struggling with anxiety writes a rhythmic pattern that expresses their internal world.

These moments are not abstract. They are real, personal, and often profound. Music literacy provides the scaffolding for these expressions—allowing emotion to take shape, be refined, and ultimately be shared.

Feelings are at the heart of music—but without tools to shape them, they can stay vague or bottled up. Music literacy gives people the freedom and clarity to express their emotional lives with depth, honesty, and intention.

It turns raw feeling into refined artistry. It transforms confusion into structure, chaos into beauty. It invites us not only to feel, but to speak through sound—to translate what’s within us into a form that others can understand and feel, too.

For students of all ages, learning to read music isn’t just a technical achievement. It’s a path to emotional fluency, a way of learning to listen more deeply, feel more honestly, and communicate more meaningfully—with themselves and with the world around them.

Andy LeGrand is a musician, composer, author, and educator in Knoxville, TN. He leads LeGrand Music Studios, RessonanceSessions.com, FlintMeryl Music, directs Knoxville Classical Guitar, and hosts the podcast Acoustic Walk, sharing music, conversations, and reflections.