Abstract
David Nabb plays an adapted alto saxophone.
(Photo by Scott Suchman)
Perhaps sometime in the past you have thought, “I’m not sure what to do with ______________, the child with a physical disability who wants to participate in band or orchestra. I would like to include this individual, but where do I begin?” I had the privilege of visiting the Cincinnati [Ohio] Assistive Music Camp (CAMC) for three days in July 2016, and I’m certain that some of the innovative ideas CAMC uses to enable students with disabilities can benefit all your students, whether they’re living with a disability or not. This article points out five of these ideas that can be especially useful to instrumental music teachers.
Our young musicians with disabilities are not deterred by the enormous challenges they face. In my three days at CAMC, I met young people without arms playing the piano or cello with their feet (for the cello, this means placing the instrument horizontally in a special stand on the floor and using the bow with one foot while stopping the strings with toes on the other foot; for piano, it means playing with the toes). The lessons I learned at CAMC can be applied to students with disabilities as well as able-bodied students. Other students were playing guitar, trumpet, euphonium, French horn, saxophone, recorder, violin, or cello with just one hand. Consider the motivation required by the students and teachers in such circumstances.
An Inclusive Approach
Research tells us that students with disabilities have the same interests in music as their able-bodied peers. 1 We also know that music educators would like to work with students with disabilities. 2 Therefore, if our minds are open to alternative performance techniques, there is no reason a student with a disability should not play an instrument.
Lesson 1: The Desire and Drive to Make Music Is Extraordinarily Powerful in Humans, Whether Able-Bodied or Disabled
This truth should be obvious to music teachers. Nevertheless, this desire and this drive can be easy to overlook. It is imperative that music educators never forget this and not take it for granted. I saw this principle in effect at CAMC more than anywhere else I’ve been. What students can do is often underestimated by music educators. Lesson 1 holds true for able-bodied students, and it’s likely even more true for students with disabilities since these students are facing the very real possibility that they may never again get the chance to make music. This might be part of what makes so many students with disabilities absolutely fearless.
CAMC is a week of high spirits and creativity that brings together young musicians with disabilities, their parents, music educators, engineers, inventors, and therapists. The success of the CAMC program comes from the integration of exceptional students, a team of caring and creative engineers, faculty members experienced in working with music students with disabilities, and world-class facilities.
Lesson 2: Hardworking, Intellectually Curious Students Are the Essence of Any Learning Experience
All students at CAMC have serious disabilities: The majority have an “upper-limb difference.” Included in this group are students with upper-limb loss or limited range of motion caused by either (a) partially formed upper limbs, (b) amputations, or (c) cerebral palsy or other neurological conditions. These differences may be present from birth or stem from an event later in life.
Kharan Wilbur plays cello with a prosthetic device that helps him hold the bow.
Photo credit: Rob Amend
The students at CAMC have enviable work ethics and intellectual curiosity. I spent a day teaching third through sixth graders at CAMC alto clef reading skills. Not once was I asked, “Why do I have to learn this? I don’t play viola.” The sheer willingness and enthusiasm of CAMC students to learn came to me as a pleasant surprise.
How can we encourage and develop these attributes in more of our students? At camp, I observed faculty members nurturing this through focusing on each student’s individuality. When difficulties were encountered, the approach taken was never that the student was incapable of something or not good at it but only that we had yet to find the best way for that student to approach a task. In most conventional instrumental programs, there is considerable emphasis on conforming to norms. Many school programs also face the additional burden of trying to get an I rating at contest. If nothing else, this may highlight a weakness in our current system. It will benefit us all if we become more aware of limitations inherent in focusing on conventional ways of doing things. Past practices may not to take us to the next level.
Lesson 3: Technical Considerations Can Make All the Difference, Especially for Students with Disabilities
One of the most essential aspects of CAMC is the contribution of a volunteer organization of Cincinnati engineers called “May We Help?” Their volunteers provide free consultation with onsite design and development of prosthetic musical instrument adaptations. For example, I observed a child with only one fully functional arm who wanted to play the trumpet. She could do everything with the trumpet normally but because of the upper-limb deficiency couldn’t hold or stabilize the trumpet. A May We Help engineer had extensive consultations with the student, the brass teacher, her parents, and several other faculty members. Shortly thereafter, a trumpet stand mount was designed on the engineer’s computer and created on a 3D printer at Xavier University’s Center for Innovation, and the student was making music with the stand the next day. If the first iteration of an adaptive device is not ideal, it can be quickly edited or redesigned on a computer, 3D printed, and tried again the subsequent day (or days) until a solution is found.
Ava Astleford plays guitar with a prosthetic pick holder.
Photo credit: Rob Amend
May We Help engineers, therapists, parents, student and teacher collaborate on developing a trumpet stand.
Photo credit: Rob Amend
The trumpet stand solution enabled this student to return home after CAMC and participate in band class with her able-bodied peers with no extra time required from her home band director. The goal of CAMC is for students to leave with enough technical help and adaptive strategies so their school music teachers will not need to give them more time than they do other students. For that student, the disability has disappeared from their musical life. In this way, CAMC provides the individualized time and expertise that students with disabilities need to get them involved in their local school music program. Many CAMC students return year after year to follow up on redesigning their prosthetic devices or gain more ideas of how they can adapt to more fully integrate with their ensembles. This was particularly true for the violinists and cellists, who play in nontraditional configurations. All the students who were using a foot or a deformed hand to bow had unique computer-designed “bow holders” that had been individually fitted to each child.
Lesson 4: Successful Faculty Are Resourceful and Fearless about Thinking Outside the Box and Developing Creative Solutions
The faculty is led by the CAMC directors Jennifer Petry and Deb Amend and includes specialists in guitar, piano, strings, woodwinds, and brass. Often, a student with a disability can only benefit from unconventional practices. At CAMC, music-making is about what students can do—never about what they can’t do. I met Anna, a guitarist who has one able-bodied leg and one able-bodied hand. Anna uses a floor stand to hold the guitar upright in front of her; she frets the strings with her left hand and strums with her right foot. This year at CAMC, she learned that various scordatura guitar tunings (which make certain passages easier to play) can at times be beneficial to a student with a disability, whereas an able-bodied student may not need them. Although one might think that the students would get confused when some of them are using different fingerings and holding positions, from what I saw, this was not an issue.
Lesson 5: Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help from Others with Special Resources or Expertise
While CAMC began in 2013 as a summer vacation project at a CAMC director’s home, Xavier University in Cincinnati now plays a vital role. Xavier is making available first-class housing, classrooms within the Department of Music, and technical support from engineers from Xavier’s Center for Innovation. Often, more people are willing to help us than we might initially realize. As more people are included in our musical projects, the sense of community and the momentum supporting these endeavors will grow.
A Fundamental Experience
We can all learn from the young musicians with disabilities at CAMC. Think about why a person with a disability would go to these extraordinary lengths to make music. These young people are not trying to prove that it’s really better technique to play cello with one’s feet than one’s hands. Rather, a performance technique that may seem completely unorthodox to an able-bodied person could be the best option available to a musician with a disability. And musicians with disabilities do not seek to prove that they have more talent or ability than their able-bodied peers: They simply want to make music.
I believe that making music is a fundamental part of the human experience. Music-making is as human as chatting with a friend or falling in love. When young musicians with disabilities make music, they are expressing their humanity. For more information about Cincinnati Adaptive Music Camp, visit http://cincinnatiadaptivemusiccamp.org/ and see how physical difference can be transcended by creativity and excellent music education.