Music Teachers, Music Therapists, and Professors, Working Together for Children

Your school music therapist can be your valued collaborator when you need help with music strategies for your students with IEPs. This webinar will offer approaches from a general music teacher, a music therapist, and a professor with years of teaching K-12 children with (dis)abilities and college students how to meaningfully include them in music classes and ensembles. We will present a case study of a music program where music educators work closely with not only music therapists and other special education team members but also welcomes collaboration opportunities with local universities and sharing a classroom to a doctoral student focused on dissertation research.

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Kimberly McCord is Professor Emeritus of Music Education at Illinois State University and Adjunct Professor of Music Education at Sacred Heart University and the University of Bridgeport. She teaches special music education, special arts education, and graduate courses. She was an International Society for Music Education (ISME) Board member, founder and first chair of the Jazz Special Interest Group, and is the past chair of the ISME Commission on Music in Special Education, Music Therapy and Music Medicine. She founded and was the first chair of the National Association for Music Education Special Research Interest Group on Children with Exceptionalities. McCord’s books include The Oxford Handbook of Special Music Education and Music Therapy, Exceptional Music Pedagogy for Children with Exceptionalities with Deborah VanderLinde and, Teaching the Postsecondary Music Student with Disabilities published by Oxford University Press. McCord specializes in Music and Individuals with Specified Learning (Dis)abilities. Her dissertation, Music Composition Using Music Technology by Elementary Children with Learning Disabilities: An Exploratory Case Study, was one of the first dissertations to focus on music and learning disabilities. She studied at the Resonaari Music Centre in Helsinki, Finland and learned to use Figurenotes, a system for adapted music notation and adapted rock band instruments. She teaches Figurenote rock bands to musicians with disabilities in her studio in Connecticut.

Jacob Beinborn is a music educator and creative technologist specializing in integrating digital tools into elementary music education. He currently teaches K-2 Music in Mahomet, Illinois, and directs the percussion program for Bloomington High School in Bloomington, Ilinois. With a background in Orff Schulwerk, he is passionate about designing engaging, student-centered learning experiences that foster creativity and musical exploration for all learners. He is pursuing a master’s degree in creative technologies and is an active designer of marching arts productions, including percussion ensemble and marching band shows.

Emily Beinborn is the Coordinator of Music Therapy Clinical Training, practicum supervisor, and instructor at Illinois State University. She joined the School of Music faculty in Fall 2015. Emily received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music therapy from Illinois State University, has been a practicing board-certified music therapist since 2011, and holds an additional certification in Neonatal Intensive Care Music Therapy. Emily is a member of several professional organizations and serves on the Public Information and Outreach Committee for the Certification Board for Music Therapists. She specializes in diverse clinical areas including hospice care, pediatric and adult medical settings, early childhood education, and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Furthermore, she has experience supporting adults managing neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and stroke.

NAfME presents this live virtual event at no charge to all as a service to the music education profession. To register, you must enter your NAfME member information or create a nonmember account. After registering, check your email for instructions. A recording of this program will be available to all registrants for one week following the live event. Members can also view archived NAfME webinars in the NAfME Academy.

The views expressed are those of the presenter; they do not necessarily reflect the views of NAfME.