Learning

Creative and musical sessions - Complex needs

Summary: Article for professionals about using music and creative activities with children who have complex needs and sight problems.

• Are you thinking about noise and touch?
• "I'm not musical" - musical teaching skills
• Practical considerations
• Positioning
• "Hands-on" support
• Running a session with music
• Conclusions
• About the author

---

This article is about ways to conduct creative and musical sessions for children with complex needs and visual impairment.

It is part of a series of resources for professionals on supporting children with complex needs and sight problems.

The article considers the impact of using sensory elements in the learning environment, particularly the auditory and tactile elements, and making as much of these possible.

By Peter Annear, Advisory Teacher of the Deaf.

Are you thinking about noise and touch?

Walk into almost any classroom and you will see excellent displays: children’s work creatively presented to the best advantage, with many additional visual triggers from the teacher or Learning Support Assistant (LSA) to stimulate and artistically complement the children’s work.

Many practitioners in the classroom may not call themselves artists, yet they will confidently and very effectively put up displays of their own and students' work. They will do this because they are aware of the impact of visual information within the learning environment. This is their "learning landscape".

I would (tentatively) suggest that few of us consider with any real creativity the "learning soundscape" - or indeed the "learning touchscape". These are equally important in a mainstream setting and may be more so when considering the learning environment of children with multi-sensory and complex profiles.

By using these sensory elements more creatively, we can begin to encourage our youngsters to reach out in exploration and to learn more from a coherent and integrated “sensoryscape”.

"I'm not musical" - musical teaching skills

If you have any notion that you are musical, then this section is not for you! Many of us however don’t feel musically adequate enough to explore the musical potential of the soundscape.

But I get excited and moved by music: I’ve experienced its power when played live in concerts, matches, by buskers or when singing a child to sleep. I’ve felt that tingle down the back of my neck caused by a single note or a chord or a rhythm and I know how some sounds and music can trigger the most amazing memories, sensations and feelings.

Sometimes, when I’m walking, I realise that my feet have got a good rhythm going, or when I’m talking I hear myself rhyming without knowing I was going to. I’ve played with my echoing voice in the mountains or the bathroom, and I play the "steering wheel bongos" when there’s a good tune on the car radio. So although I can’t call myself a musician, I can call myself a musical enthusiast; and I guess you might say the same about yourself.

Why music?

Historically, this has been a question often posed when talking about youngsters who are deaf. Nowadays the assumption may be that music will be used for its vibro-tactile qualities and this may well be the case. Our perception of music, however, is not dependent on our peripheral hearing, and we can bear in mind the following.

We listen with our minds and bodies and not just our ears. The auditory response is multi-sensory. Evelyn Glennie has some fascinating insights into how we listen.

Video: Evelyn Glennie - Listening to music with your whole body (Plasticmind)

Singing and most musical instruments will be louder than the speaking voice and there is a far broader frequency response in musical instruments than speech both in the lower (bass) frequencies and the higher (treble) frequencies.

Teachers and other professionals working with those who are deaf will know that most auditory activities are geared towards sensitising the listener to the speech frequencies. Music with its broader frequency response, greater dynamic range and its multi-sensory properties provides a valid, positive and creative alternative motivation for listening. When we want to hear we will listen with our whole being.

Practical considerations

Hearing aids and other amplification

Conventional hearing aids generally are efficient in the speech frequency range from 250 Hz to 4000Hz. They will be programmed to limit intense sounds to a prescribed level. This limiting will affect the acoustic shape of the sound.

Nowadays most conventional hearing aids (and assistive listening devices) fall into one of two categories:

• electro-acoustic: analogue, digital signal processing hearing aids, bone conduction applications
• electrical and tactile aids: Cochlear Implants, vibro-tactile aids.

These personal aids will often allow excellent access and potential response in the musical environment and we should always make sure that when provided these aids are working and fitted properly and switched on at the user settings.

The option of NOT wearing conventional hearing aids and the provision of creative alternatives should be carefully considered when using musical instruments with high potential intensity and sustain (eg Gamelan instruments, cymbals etc).

Creative alternatives to using hearing aids

• Natural amplifiers/resonant cavities: cardboard boxes, resonant rooms, tubes, proximity, swimming pools.
• Acoustic: ear trumpet, hand behind the ear, natural intensity.
• Other electro-acoustic solutions: PA or sound field systems, Personal Radio Systems, Auditory Training devices, infrared/loop systems.
• Tactile access: vibro-tactile aids, resonance boards, "hands-on /body-on", vibro-acoustic chairs/beds.
• Multi-sensory: assume listening as a multi-sensory activity and that visual, tactile and other sensory information will give plenty of the "musical experience".

"Musicality is a function of the mind and not just the ears"
- G Dalgarno

Positioning

Children with significant motor impairments need stabilising in a comfortable position. If the trunk and neck are not stabilised the child will expend a great deal of effort and attention on maintaining equilibrium rather than responding creatively to auditory/other sensory stimulus.

Nancie Finnie, in her very useful book “Handling the young child with cerebral palsy at home”, makes some very practical suggestions for positioning to encourage vision and audition. These include:

• low cost/informal stabilisers
• seat adapted from packing crate
• chair adapted from cardboard cylinder (height adjustable)
• cardboard box positioning seat with tray
• roller chairs with cut out tables. The rollers must be level with the child’s knees
• some “human” resources
• repositioning a child by pulling them by the “seat of the pants” towards an adult seated behind. This allows the child to lean forward by himself and have hands free to manipulate toys or response material.

Positioning a child with cerebral palsy on a narrow base increases stability. A slight pressure inwards with hands over the chest lifts and turns in the child's shoulders, controlling their head and arms.

"Hands-on" support

Some children with mobility, fine or gross motor issues, or in wheelchairs, may need instruments raised and angled with accessible, adapted beaters.

Some children may need coactive (hands-on) support and we should talk together about how to give the child the best chance of taking control and independent movement.

What is the child’s response when we are "coactive"?

• passive /non intentional acceptance
• passive/intentional acceptance
• resistance
• active/intentional acceptance
• enjoyment
• or transferring locus of control (and creativity) from intervenor to child.

Intervention or independence?

It is also helpful within this to be aware of the balance of intervention/independence:

• complete control by intervenor, child unaware
• bulk of control from intervenor
• child makes some slight attempts to cooperate (also be aware that physical resistance may be due to hypotonia rather than expressing an opinion)
• decreasing physical prompts by intervener.
• increasing control and action and “leading suggestions” by child
• or independent movement by child.

Running a session with music

Using silence

This is a fantastically powerful state during these sessions and really helps to develop listening. Creating and working in and out of silence is very helpful and worth an effort to get everybody able to do it. Once the convention is understood (even if not always completely achieved) it makes all activities very clear.

Find a signal that shows that everybody is "ready and waiting". For example if using percussion with beaters everyone can show they are ready by holding their beater in the air.

• Before setting off on any activity can they sit or lie absolutely still in their ready position, and start at a given signal?
• At the end of a piece of music or activity, can they get back into the ready and waiting signal, and hold that position until given a signal to relax?

The "Conductor"

This will be an adult at the beginning of any activity. Once you have established the conductor's spot, any child can be invited or choose to become the conductor. This is also very powerful for children to take control of the music and their peers. Some may need lots of coactive or verbal support and prompting. Others will need to quell their Attila-like qualities!

Selecting instruments

You will probably want to consider a combination of allowing child choice as a particular activity and selecting them yourself on behalf of the children.

However other considerations may be taken such as how the instrument is sounded; beaten, bowed, scraped, plucked, blown etc. and whether this or the sound it makes is particularly good (or bad) for a particular child.

Outline of the session

Arrival and "getting ready" time

A routine of taking off shoes (or some other action) may help to signal that this is a special activity (similar to PE or Yoga preparations).

Once in the room they should sit in a circle (on mats or carpet squares if possible) depending on physical and sensory needs (see Positioning). Although lots of activities may "break out" of this circle it is a great structure.

Music and movement

Are these two always intertwined? Sound, by definition involves movement of the air and a sound maker will usually have a visible movement too. In this next section I want to explore the interaction between a performer and listener/conductor/companion.

Movement can have great significance both in performance and reception, active listeners are likely to be as mobile as their performing partners and rather than an active and a passive role in an interaction there is a need to understand that both will affect the other in a balanced tension of interaction.

When working one to one, it's helpful to find a good interacting position. This may take some time and experimentation. It may also vary depending on the activity you are sharing and the specific needs you both have.

The child will need to be able to understand the "rule" you will try to make for their movements. This convention will be easier to establish if you observe the child really carefully and look for significant (even if tiny) movements and expressions of pleasure, relaxation, displeasure or distress.

Responding to the listener

Two things happen here that I think are really significant.

The first is that by close observation we get closer to "being in their head", so we can begin to mould our responses more closely.

By doing this, the second really important thing can happen: the listener begins to influence your performance and this means that a true creative communication has started.

A good example of this "signalling" activity is well described by Mark Withers in Hallé Orchestra’s "Hearing Impaired Project: Support Materials for Teachers and Musicians". Other very practical tried and tested activities described in this pack include musical conversations, using graphic scores, exploring repeating patterns and a section devoted to Gamelan.

Dance and gesture

When working in a group, movement, dance and gesture can be a trigger to creating music and the other way around.

Initially, the adult could dance out a scene, which has a number of elements the group recognise and have composed specific sounds to. For example, some musical elements to be explored are loud/soft, fast/slow, and crescendo/diminuendo (fade). Once these rules are established, a natural development is for the students to become the dancers or controllers.

Gamelan

A gamelan is a kind of musical ensemble of Indonesia typically featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones and drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings, and vocalists may also be included.

These sounds are exciting for anybody, and they are particularly good for children with multi-sensory impairment.

"A gamelan as a set of instruments is a distinct entity, built and tuned to stay together… instruments from different gamelan are not interchangeable." (Wikipedia - gamelan)

Gamelan means (roughly) “hammer”. That is pretty much what you do to create some of the most fascinating and mysterious sounds in music. Gongs, metallophones, xylophones, drums, pots all combine to make up these sounds. These include sounds that can be powerful (up to 110 decibels - that’s very loud!), sounds that ring on for ages (up to 30-40 seconds - that’s a long time!), sounds that are so deep that you can feel them change the room pressure and in your tummy (62 Hertz or vibrations per second…that’s deep!), and their contrasts: quiet, brief and shrill.

If you couple sonic excitement with the fact that these instruments look amazing and feel fantastic (both through touch and vibration), then you have a resource that is both inspirational and valuable on many levels.

Gamelan tradition includes storytelling, shadow puppets and dance. This multi-sensory aspect is an excellent blend. Combined with the accessibility of the instruments, you are able to develop audition, visual and tactile function in one resource.

Conclusions

At the heart of creativity lies the desire to communicate, and disability should be no barrier to creativity and spontaneity.

All children are special. All children have potential. I need to interact with children with complex needs primarily to mutually explore creativity, but also to identify needs that interfere with or prevent them from reaching their potential, and devise strategies to turn these needs into strengths or to minimise them.

I also want to recognise that a special need may trigger an unexpected advantage or skill. My task as a teacher and carer is to focus on children’s ability, having taken into account and addressed their disability.

I have difficulty in expressing my creativity: that is often part of the process, and on that basis alone, no-one, whatever their disability, should be assumed to have no creativity. Given an enabling environment (emotional, physical and spiritual), all of us should be able to communicate.

About the author

Peter Annear is an Advisory Teacher of the Deaf based in Somerset.

• Back to In the Classroom
• Curriculum Clipboard - Complex Needs
• Music

Content author: curriculum@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 21/11/2008 13:12