A pupil with a learning disability is unlikely to respond as well to the traditional way of teaching beginners. It may be that he or she will be unable to read written notation or grasp its complexity. New innovative methods need to be developed. Sometimes teachers are reluctant to take on such pupils as they feel inexperienced in the field of teaching pupils with a learning disability. There is a need for more teachers who are prepared to engage in this form of specialised teaching. We can all learn a lot from each other by sharing experiences, success stories, and by discussing problems with our colleagues.
Please let me congratulate you on setting up this site and tackling this area. My daughter has quite severe autism but is very musical. Expectations are so extraordinarily low in this area that I have had to teach her myself for long periods of time -- learning beside her because I am not musically trained. Once she can palpably play and play musically it becomes possible to interest musicians in her development but many are not interested/experienced in anything but the Grade1, grade2, grade3 etc approach and have no interest in teaching methods or developing their own teaching skills. As you say in your resources section the one thing that can be said about resources is that there aren't any. One book that inspired me was Jill Phillips Give your child music .........printed in 1979 and long out of print. Her broad definition of music and her passion for teaching make this the best/only book of it's sort that I have read
I am very pleased to read that you have persevered with your daughter's piano playing and I hope that you manage to find a sympathetic teacher for her. We have more resources in development that we hope to have on the Melody web site soon in the form of alternative ways of helping students to access music if they cannot read music. The hold up is in the area of computer technology! I think a big problem we face lies in the Government's talk of for ever raising standards and achieving more at every level. Instrumental teachers are inevitably assessed by their exam results which I suppose leads to a certain reluctance to take on those who will never achieve Associated Board exams. We have got to keep on trying to raise awareness of the fact that people with learning disabilities can not only learn to play musical instruments but can benefit in so many ways by doing it. I am very interested in Jill Phillips' book that you mention. I see that it is listed on Amazon but not available to purchase. I would be grateful if anyone could let me have a copy! Thanks!
Hi, I'll bring Give Your Child Music to the special virtuosi concert and lend it to you. I bought it from my local library in Southwark and I see from the front page library stamps dating to 1981 and showing that it once belonged to Medway Library service.
My son has Downs and is autistic. He adores music and loves to sit at the piano 'playing' his own 'tunes'. I would love for him to have the opportunity to discover more about himself in this area. I'm not interested in academic achievement just his enjoyment. That might mean somebody being prepared to enhance his enjoyment on the piano for an hour a week but being prepared to play alone while he watches from afar and gets to feel comfortable if he ever does. But i don't know where to start.