Teacher Resources

Improvisation ideas and alternative notation for pupils who do not read and more. Read about the benefits experienced by learning disabled people when they have been given the opportunity to play a musical instrument. See what has been done by others.

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Join in discussions and share ideas about teaching and learning musical instruments for and by the learning disabled. Encourage others with your success stories.

A Windy Day

I was addressing the teachers' group at the Hereford Piano Conference one year, on the subject of teaching piano to people with Down syndrome. I showed a video of one of my pupils working with me, which demonstrated his development over a couple of years.

Later, I received three pictures in the post, especially drawn by 8-year-old Rhiannon to encourage my pupil to improvise on the piano.

Discussion of Rhiannon's pictures prompted the following ideas:

Learning Objectives

  • Creativity and composing (eg the cat motif and the tree's march)
  • Opportunities for reading: the rhythm could be read from notation, if appropriate.

Exploring the concepts of;

  • loud and soft (dynamics)
  • slow and fast (tempo)