Snapshots from Around the World at the ISME World Conference 2022 Maureen Butler NJMEA Special Learners Chair
maureenbutlermusic[at]gmail.com
This summer I was thrilled to co-present a session at an amazing virtual gathering that included presenters and participants from around the world. It was a wonderful opportunity to connect with music educators in the United States and in other countries. It was fascinating to see what so many are doing to address the needs of their students with differing abilities in all age groups, and to see how cultural issues affect how music is used to enrich and enhance student lives. The International Society for Music Educators (ISME) is an organization dedicated to music educators, and includes members from eighty different countries. According to the mission statement on its website, ISME is based on the “belief that lived experiences of music, in all their many aspects, are a vital part of the life of all people.” ISME's mission is to enhance those experiences by: • “Building and maintaining a worldwide community of music educators characterized by mutual respect and support • Fostering global intercultural understanding and cooperation among the world's music educators • Promoting music education for people of all ages in all relevant situations throughout the world" The world conference is held every two years in different locations, but was presented virtually in 2022 due to the Covid pandemic. Leading up to the conference are several pre-conference seminars that focus on specific fields within music education, including the Special Music Education and Music Therapy Commission pre-conference seminar that I was a part of. Presentations had to be submitted and approved. Most were research-based (including doctoral dissertations), some described classroom projects, and others highlighted concert experiences. Professor Robert Rocco, formerly of Kean University, and I had decided to submit a proposal for a presentation that highlighted our collaboration as we worked with Deaf and hard of hearing children, and we were delighted to have been accepted. Our work involved using the Radio Baton, a unique electronic instrument, to help teach various musical elements to my students at the Lake Drive School for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in Mountain Lakes, NJ. (See my article in the May 2015 edition of TEMPO for more details.) We were excited to show video clips of our students, to explain the good results we saw, and to discuss our project with others. Pre-recorded videos were available online prior to the conference, and virtual discussions were scheduled so that participants could enjoy a thirty-minute question and answer period with presenters. This turned out
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to be an enlightening and enjoyable aspect of the conference, as participants shared thoughts and ideas. The first thing that stood out for me was that there are universal themes that seem to apply to all of us who work with students who receive special education services. These include: focusing on the person, not the disability; focusing on each student’s strength, while adapting for their disability; and the belief that music is vital and indeed possible for all. There were over thirty sessions; here are only a few of the highlights for me that I’d like to share with you: Using Fixed Do Solfege, Manipulatives, and Visual Aids to Support Pitch Learning in Students with Autism, presented by Erin Parkes of the Lotus Centre for Special Music Education in Ontario, Canada. Erin Parkes highlighted the need for a multi-modal approach when teaching concepts related to pitch, citing how deficits in visual spatial working memory, imitation ability, and abstract thinking can make it difficult for students with autism to decode notation. She developed and utilizes a system that is simpler than Kodaly’s hand symbols to help students kinesthetically understand the notes of a scale, e.g. placing hands on knees for “do”, on stomach for “re,” and chest for “mi.” For me this is a good example of how we music teachers can modify existing strategies to reach our students. She also remarked upon the high incidence of perfect pitch among students with autism, compared to the general population. If you work with children with autism, you may have noticed this yourself. Tears in the Key of E: Supporting Siblings of Autism with Music, presented by Meghan Wald and Elaine Bernstof, both of Wichita University. This poignant session highlighted an often overlooked population and offered suggestions about how to support brothers and sisters of students with a disability. The presenters noted that these students may have a mild disability themselves that is overlooked, since the family’s energies may be focused on the sibling with a more obvious disability. Care must be taken to ensure that appropriate testing is provided for them as well. Wald and Bernstof also remarked on how siblings may be “parentalized”; that is, they are often cast in the role of caregiver, and this may affect their own behaviors at school and in social settings, as they continue to live out this role. This session really affected me as I consider students in my classes for whom life can be quite challenging as they navigate living with a child with autism or another serious disability. Music teachers typically see students over the span of several years, and this insight can help us be a positive force in these students’ lives.
OCTOBER 2022