This research investigates the connection between reading printed texts and reading music notation. The context of the research is choral practice in children’s choirs, and the research informants include 16 choral directors of children’s choirs drawn from four distinct Irish choral contexts: cathedral choirs, conservatoire-based choirs, community choirs and school choirs. The research aims to investigate the extent to which theory in developing language reading fluency can inform and extend theory in music reading fluency. The literature review reveals a gap in theory and practice: while language literacy has developed a rich theoretical understanding to inform its practical approaches, music reading has retained a largely functional approach informed by a heritage of practice rather than overarching theories. The research proposes the need for a shift in our understanding of music reading from primarily production of sounds to fluency in meaning making and thinking through notation - as we do with words. It locates four relevant concepts from language literacy: language rich environment; competency in word recognition (sight words) and decoding; fluency for comprehension and meaning making in reading and proposes the need for a similar understanding of music fluency. Using a mixed methods qualitative approach drawing on constructivist grounded theory, it includes the perspective of the researcher as research instrument investigating theories and ideas drawn from (language) reading literature whilst working with a group of children in a ‘Choirlab’ context in preparation for three in-depth interviews with each expert practitioner. In addition to their consideration of the four concepts, the research reveals conductors’ working theories and in-depth understanding of music literacy across a range of choral contexts. The research proposes new ways of thinking about communicative, meaning-making approaches to music reading in choral contexts that will be useful for future thinking in this area.