3/7/2017
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
cooleyc
|
Several years ago I was teaching middle school band, and had the pleasure of teaching a young lady who was visually impaired. She could not see at all. She learned trumpet by learning to listen to the note names orally spoken, and the rhythms spoken. Then the music was played on trumpet for her. She would practice listening to her part on the tape player over and over. Within one or two days she would come into rehearsal and have her part completely learned. I was totally amazed. She adapted to playing with the group by listening for the tap of my baton for instruments up, and her neighbor would tap his foot next to hers. Instruments down was accomplished by a little help from the student next to her whispering "down". It was great no one in the audience ever knew that she could not see. She was one of the very best players I have ever had the pleasure of teaching. What a joy! |
3/7/2017
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
cooleyc
|
Option 1: I have my students learn major scales and perform playing tests once a week. I had one clarinet player break his arm and could not play clarinet, so I adjusted and had him learn his scales, write them out for me for his clarinet part, and then learn to play them one handed on the bell set. He enjoyed learning it both ways. He now is a pretty good mallet player as well as clarinet player. |
3/7/2017
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
cooleyc
|
Option 2 : I have used technology with two of my students that have been visually impaired. Both needed the music larger than was possible on normal printing from the publisher, and it was very difficult to enlarge the print enough to accommodate their needs. Therefore, I used two different methods to help out. I tried projecting the music on a large screen and enlarging it and it worked pretty well for rehearsal in the room. Difficulty was that they had to memorize it for the performances. The second piece of technology that I used was to get each their own tablet where the music could be adjusted to the size that was needed for them. This worked better, but not perfect. Some songs responded better to the enlargement than others did on the tablets. |