CASE STUDY A: OSCAR
Grade 5 Theory with a dyslexia diagnosis and speech delay
This was my first experience of knowingly working with a neurodivergent student. I had never had a student arrive for lessons before with a dyslexia diagnosis and even an accompanying report. Oscar's early education was in a special school as his speech had been very delayed. His mum armed me with information and was extremely grateful and appreciative for my willingness to work with her son. He was a very able fiddle player, with a beautiful full dark tone and super intonation.
She explained in huge detail what his challenges were, which was helpful. I had some vague understanding of what dyslexia was but quickly began to realise that I didn’t have a clue. It became a very steep learning curve for me to meet his needs. Oscar needed to do his Grade 5 Theory to move on to his Grade 6 Violin and his string teacher had asked me to cover the theory, feeling I was ‘the right teacher’ for him. I was also asked to help him with the compositional element of his GCSE Music.
It was quite an extraordinary experience: notation with sticks the wrong way round; time signatures upside down. Being able to even understand what the question meant was a challenge. One week we would crack something, and I’d think, ‘Yes, he’s got it now’, and the next week, it was if we were starting right at the beginning.
I soon realised I needed some expert help. As I hit the internet (still quite a new thing at the time) it was clear that there was far more information on what the problems were than on any solutions. I contacted the British Dyslexia Association and they put me in touch with the BDA Music Committee (which I joined myself in 2 7). I was put in touch with Margaret (Peggy) Hubiki. Over the next few years she guided me on how to teach Oscar and also other students who were showing neurodivergent traits.
We soon realised that the Grade 5 Theory exam wasn’t for Oscar, but that there was an alternative qualification that would allow him to progress to Grade 6 Violin: the Practical Musicianship exam. This included improvisation, playing by ear and aural activities, which worked much better for him. As far as composition was concerned, we did this through improvisation, recording and then inputting into Sibelius notation software. Using Sibelius meant
… adapting to the way Bryn learned rather than expecting him to learn the way I usually taught resulted in much better progress and learning.
that Oscar didn’t need to remember things like which way round the time signature and key signature were, how to beam the notes, or what the different rest symbols are like, because Sibelius helped with all of that – either doing it for him or flagging what the mistakes were. With a team to support him (his classroom music teacher, singing teacher and myself, with Peggy Hubiki guiding me over the phone), Oscar achieved a merit in his practical musicianship and an A* in his GCSE music.
CASE STUDY B: BRYN
‘Teach the way your student learns’
Bryn struggled with rhythm and all the usual strategies just didn’t work. He was super sporty and loved Power Rangers. It was clear that a physical activity to learn rhythm was just what he needed. I struggle with mild dyspraxia and any kind of coordinated movement on my part was a challenge. I joined a local gym and started Body Combat classes. It was super embarrassing to begin with, but a very patient teacher took the time to help me learn the moves and be successful. I then developed a physical routine, based on Power Rangers moves, to represent different note values, and these were linked with a systematic set of rhythm flashcards. I would take rhythms out of pieces and turn them into routines. Unsurprisingly, adapting to the way Bryn learned rather than expecting him to learn the way I usually taught resulted in much better progress and learning.
The inclusive music teacher manifesto
1. I will help my students to believe they can succeed. I will be kind, generous with praise, understanding, respectful, and collaborative. I will find ways to show my students that I like them.
2. I will teach according to the way my students learn, and make their voice an integral part of each lesson.
3. I will use techniques that are multi-sensory, systematic, and embedded, and help my students to find ways to make personal associations. I will be curious about the teaching strategies that work best for them.
4. I will do my best to learn from the best pedagogies, including experiential learning and the methods of Kodály, Dalcroze, Orff and Curwen. I will be brave and kind to myself in this journey, and will take the elements that work best for my students to create a bespoke approach for them.
5. I will discover my students’ strengths, and keep these in mind, as well as learning about the challenges they may face.
6. I will be patient and non-judgmental, including when my students forget things, when they struggle to understand, when they are disorganised, and when they fail to turn up for a lesson. I will not take it personally and I will brainstorm ways to help them.
7. I will help my students to develop coping mechanisms for the things they find the hardest.
8. I will be consistent, including: in timetabling – lessons will be at the same time each week; with workload – I won’t give last-minute work, or suddenly increase workload without planning this into my student’s wider commitments, I will afford them some control; with my emotional responses – my mood will be level and professional.
9. I will make sure that my students have the right access arrangements for their diagnosis when doing any formal assessment in or out of school, and select the right assessment for them where possible.
1 . I will accept that I don’t know it all and will reach out to colleagues and experts. A whole village is needed to raise a musician, including parents/guardians, teachers, other music professionals and other people in their lives.
Visit collins.co.uk/musicandneurodiversity to download a poster of this manifesto.
Multi-sensory teaching
Multi-sensory music teaching is just what it sounds like: using all the senses to teach and learn music. The main senses employed are visual (seeing), auditory (hearing) and kinaesthetic (physically ‘doing’). Multi-sensory music teaching can be seen in some of the most respected music teaching approaches, including those of Dalcroze, Kodály, Suzuki and Orff. It can benefit all learners. In her key book Instrumental Music for Dyslexics: A Teaching Handbook (Whurr, 2 2), Sheila Oglethorpe encourages teachers ‘to employ as many of the child’s senses as possible in the hope that the stronger senses will compensate for the weaker ones’.
Multi-sensory teaching isn’t simply a method to just use with neurodivergent students, it has benefits for all. Here are a few ideas for how to teach a melody in a multi-sensory way:
• Demonstrate sound before symbol – sing the melody before reading the instrumental notation.
• Identify the rhythm and repeat it – clap the rhythm values of the melody.
• Perform the melody of the piece for your students –and identify the high and low pitches using a whole-body approach, touching the head for high and the legs for low as they listen.
• Nurture pulse maintenance – getting students to play in an ensemble means that the pulse must be maintained.
USING THE WHOLE BODY TO LEARN MUSIC
What educators have known for centuries has also been proven in practice – activities that employ the whole body can really improve learning. So, what ‘whole body’ activities – which are by their very nature multi-sensory – can be done in a music lesson? Here are a few examples:
Note reading
Provide a large stave on the floor. The spaces between the lines should be big enough for a hand or foot to represent a note. You could use masking tape or whatever is on hand to represent the stave lines for the instrument you are teaching. If teaching piano this should be the grand stave (a treble
and bass stave bracketed together). Here are some activities that you can do on your floor stave.
• Explore what a note on a line looks/feels like compared to a note in a space. This concept can be extremely tricky (see Case study T on page 78). Place the hands or feet on the stave ‘ladder’ to represent the note. Say the letter names with the student – or even sing them –and do this forwards and backwards.
• If you are teaching the piano, take the student to the instrument to explore. If it’s another instrument, stand on the stave with the instrument. If a student is playing the D next to middle C, get them to stand on that position on the stave.
• Play ‘Music Twister’ – randomly give a student a note letter and ask them to stand on that position on the stave.
• Sing notes in a scale and ask your student to mark their position on the stave using hands or feet.
• Explore triad patterns and arpeggios on the stave, singing and marking the notes with hands or feet.
Rhythm
Body percussion (movement of legs, arms, hands, feet and so on) is a wonderful way to mark a pulse and different rhythm patterns. See Case Study B (page 17) about Bryn learning rhythms through Power Ranger moves. Show the rhythms on a flash card as the student performs them using body percussion.
WHOLE-BODY INVOLVEMENT WITH THE CLASS – ‘PLAY ACTING’ AN ORCHESTRA
Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra is a very useful piece of music that can help students to learn about different orchestral instruments. Split the class into four groups: strings, brass, woodwind and percussion. Watch a performance of the work on YouTube. As the students see and hear the group of instruments they represent, invite them to stand up. When the whole orchestra plays, all children should be standing. As the music continues, you can invite smaller groups of children to represent different individual instruments, such as flute, French horn, and so on.
Instrument- and settingspecific advice
Teaching students who have particular challenges is a joy, because it develops you as a mentor, making you stronger, more empathetic, more aware and more organised, as well as more creative.
Murray McLachlan
In the following case studies, teachers are speaking anecdotally about their own experience. What works for one student won't necessarily work for another, and no two students with a particular diagnosis are the same.
PIANO
Murray McLachlan, Professor of Piano at the Royal Northern College of Music and St Andrew’s University, and Head of Keyboard at Chetham’s School of Music
Many students let you know in advance about a specific diagnosis. But even without administrative forewarning it is always easy to notice processing difficulties, problems related to reading, problems relating to concentration, over-literal interpretations of suggestions, coordination issues, over-sensitivity to loud or extraneous noises (for example pedal squeaking sounds) and so on. As a teacher we should pick up on the unique qualities and challenges of each individual student.
Using green paper can help some students, or enlarging the size of the paper. Some learn best with a multi-sensory approach or an aural-first or analytical approach. Sometimes it works best to slow down the pace of delivery. Some students are sensitive to smells – it was important in one of my student’s lessons at the Royal Northern College of Music that I did not over-do the usage of aftershave on the morning that I taught him.
Challenges with processing need to be handled methodically. Don’t overload the student, review lessons, plan ahead with scrupulous care, and be as clear as possible in the delivery of what is being said.
It is important to talk to the carers/guardians/parents of students under 18 and to liaise with colleagues for students who come to you in institutions. Never take anything for granted.
It is also vital to cultivate emotional intelligence, to remain as professional as possible and never to lose patience. Never work in a routine manner. Always respect the individuality of the student.
The strengths that neurodivergent students have are extremely useful in a general sense and should be approached as an intensification rather than a change from the approaches adopted in teaching generally.
When preparing for exams, let students work at their own pace and not the pace of a deadline or your own timetable. Take extra care to explain everything in detail but with simple steps along the route. Study the syllabus very carefully and take care to take advantage of extra time allowed for sightreading and any other allowances on offer.
Teaching students who have particular challenges is a joy, because it develops you as a mentor, making you stronger, more empathetic, more aware and more organised, as well as more creative.
STRINGS
Georgina Leach, professional violinist, teacher and author of the Dynamite Strings tutor books
In a school system that places such high value on literacy and numeracy scores and often judges children’s behaviour on their ability to sit still and work quietly, neurodivergent students can be overlooked and underestimated. It has been my great privilege to witness time and time again the huge positive impact that music tuition can have on neurodivergent children and their entire experience at school.
Learning a string instrument presents considerable challenges for all beginners: a great deal of coordination and precision is required to even produce a simple, bowed, open-string note. Reading staff notation can also be confusing. Strings usually start in the keys of A, D and G and leap around the stave recognising open strings, rather than moving up and down in step. Each pitch is fingered completely differently depending on which octave is being played. For our neurodivergent students, these challenges are often magnified.