Help! Music literacy with blind student
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nafmeadmin.
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January 28, 2015 at 11:10 am #44095
nafmeadmin
KeymasterDoes anyone have experience teaching a student who is blind to read music? So far I have been able to adapt activities for her so that she’s not missing out on our curriculum, but now that we’re getting to reading written notation, I know essentially nothing about what to do. My student’s braille teacher started looking into it and got five binders worth of braille music systems, but it’s all extremely complicated, and I’m not sure if that’s the best route to go right now. I’m looking for a way to effectively teach her to read quarter note, double eighths, and quarter rest patterns to start. We’re not using the staff yet. Anyone have tips or experience with this? Thanks!
February 12, 2015 at 7:11 am #44568nafmeadmin
KeymasterWhat a wonderful teacher you are to seek out additional help for this student beyond your immediate support. There is a helpful article that was published in the MEJ 1998, “Resources for Helping Blind Students” by Mary A. Smaligo, a music teacher experienced in this area. Just go to the link. I hope this helps. https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr18/issue1/f180105.htm
February 12, 2015 at 9:08 am #44571nafmeadmin
KeymasterThank you so much!
February 12, 2015 at 10:29 am #44576nafmeadmin
KeymasterDoes your state have a Commission for the Blind? We recently contacted the commission in Texas on behalf of my father-in-law. The wealth of resources they can help you access is huge! Good luck!
March 5, 2015 at 10:29 pm #47519nafmeadmin
KeymasterInterestingly I just got finished a conference call with the NAfME Council for General Music and one of the action items we discussed was to produce a multi-part webinar on Music and Special Education. This will address strategies for students with physical, emotional, and cognitive disabilities. Although, sadly, this isn’t immediately helpful to you it is a resource you can look forward to using in the near future. Your student is lucky to have a dedicated teacher like you!
Mary Anne Zupan
Retired K-5 Music SpecialistMarch 6, 2015 at 11:53 am #47562nafmeadmin
KeymasterThank you! I’ll look for this in the future. So far we’ve created a system to use of foam shapes to represent the notes (triangle, square, circle) with magnetic backings that we arrange on a whiteboard so she can feel them. It’s not perfect, but at least it’s something we can do for now. We’ve discovered that the actual braille system for music is too complex for what we’re doing right now; each rhythm has to be associated with a note name, which we’re not doing yet.
March 29, 2015 at 12:23 pm #50026nafmeadmin
KeymasterHello,
I have a lot of experience with teaching special needs students in the general music classroom and ensemble classes. I am more than happy to share what I know and share what I do with my students. Is the student legally blind, or completely without vision? Feel free to e-mail me gonzalezv@dadeschools.net -
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