You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2007.
This weekend, my school sponsored a what could be compared to an in service day or staff developement day; a bunch of music education teachers/experts were invited to speak about different topics in the education field. I found all of the workshops I attended to be very informational, and a I got some great ideas for my own classroom someday, but two seminars really stuck out at me.
These two seminars were given by a man named Mr. Bill Pearce, a band director in Pennsylvania, and a man with a very serious degenerative disorder that will eventually cause him to be completely deaf. He explained to us that despite one major brain surgery to cure him of his vertigo, he was still 100% deaf in his left ear and 75% deaf in his right ear. And despite all of this, and with very little assistance, Mr. Pearce still runs a very successful high school band program along with being on the board of directors for PMEA (Pennsylvania Music Educator’s Association) ANYWAY, Mr. Pearce gave two lectures on teaching music to those with special needs. Although he didn’t really go into much detail about certain disabilities and common techniques, he did give us a FABULOUS website that he and few others created. The website is http://www.keyarts.ws . Along with some other great resourcses concerning music education, there is a tab on the left that says “special strategies”, and from here you can click “students with special needs”. After you have clicked this, click on the box that says music, and you’re in. In this portion of the site there is information on a large variety of different disabilities, how to adapt your lesson for these students, and what kind of accomodations can be made. Much to my excitement deaf students are not discluded from this list of disabilities. Take a look at this site! It’s really very informational!
I am currently a Music Education major with a Voice concentration. And although I truly have a passion for music and teaching, I have found that I also have a passion for working with the deaf. I know it sounds strange, but I really do hope to some how bring all of these passions together; someday, I want to teach music to people who cannot hear 
In order to try and figure out a way to bring all of these interests together, I did an observation at a school especially designed for deaf students in my home town. Although I spent most of my time in a regular classroom, trying to learn as much about deaf culture as I could. However, I spent one full day with the music teacher at this school. I found many of her methods quite interesting. In most of her lessons, she had a CD playing and she would sign the words in rhythm, and the students would copy her. I was suprised to see how much rhythm some of them had-they caught on so fast! With the more primary aged students, this teacher played the piano. They had a good-morning song which she played and sang while they signed. In the lesson, she played the piano a good part of the time, and it was very interesting for me to observe the students walking up to the piano and touching it and holding it in order to feel the vibrations. One other lesson I saw this music teacher give was having the students watch a biographical film on Beethoven (I believe it was called “Beethoven Lives Upstairs”) and as they watched it, she interpreted it for them so that the stuents could have a better understanding of what is going on.
I found all of these techniques very interesting and effective, but I’m curious as to what other methods are out there for teaching music to the deaf. Because, despite the fact that they cannot hear every note, or sing in tone, I do not believe that they cannot appreciate the emotional content of music.
So, as you’ve probably guessed by now, I want to use this blog to share educational methods for teaching music to the deaf that I have learned about, but also to learn from those who know much more than me. Someday I hope to obtain a Master’s Degree in Deaf Education, and I want to be as prepared as possible for the day when I have the opportunity to combine all of my interests in one field.
