4/15/2020
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Brad Wharton
|
I have had a student in my band program for the past four years. He is visually impaired and can only read things very close up. As he is a percussionist, it is difficult for him to read the music and actually articulate on the percussion equipment. The percussion instructor and I enlarge his music for him to be able to read easier. We give him the new music ahead of time so that he can familiarize himself at home before it is needed in class. We also work with him to mark his music in bright colors so that he can differentiate musical notation and symbols on the page. My observation is that these strategies have been extremely helpful for him and have allowed him to enjoy reading and making music every day! |
4/16/2020
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Brad Wharton
|
There are two strategies that I use in my classroom/rehearsals. Mnemonic instruction used to aid students with processing or memorization challenges. This is used quite frequently with students when learning scalic or arpeggiated patterns.
Task Analysis is used to help students break large tasks into smaller ones. When learning a larger piece of concert music, I give students smaller chunks to learn at first, and then we chunk the smaller parts together, and then we sequence the entire piece. |
4/16/2020
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Brad Wharton
|
I had a student in my percussion class that injured his hand and could not play for six weeks. Since we do weekly playing pass-offs in that class, he was unable to play for these assessments. What I had him do is write out the counts for his assessments each week and then sing the counts back to me. He would do this with a metronome playing in the background. |