Teaching–learning resources and supports in the music classroom: Key aspects for the inclusion of visually impaired students

Introduction

Music education for people with visual impairment currently finds itself at a critical point on the path towards the goal of becoming an inclusion-friendly environment. However, in most cases, teachers dealing with mainstream classes with both sighted and visually impaired students have no specific training and are often faced by a series of doubts and uncertainties, many of them related to access to didactic materials, possible teaching strategies, communication with the students, and different approaches for learning music notation, including Braille music. Ignorance of the available tools and the teachers’ lack of preparation when it comes to coping with the challenges of the music classroom are some of the main problems hindering successful inclusion of visually impaired students. For this reason, the educational community must be acquainted with the resources and specialist support aimed at inclusive music education.

By resources in music education, we mean any strategy, material, technique, or adaptation that facilitates teaching–learning processes. On the other hand, specialized support provides a complementary aid to teaching–learning resources, and according to York, Giangreco, Vandercook, and Macdonald (2001), their purpose is to ensure teachers feel supported in their efforts to promote student success. Those providing specialized support must possess special knowledge beyond the mere fact of ‘mastering a specific discipline, or of being physically present in class’ (p. 119).

Adopting the terminology used by Baker and Green (2017), we will refer to ‘visually impaired’ as an umbrella to include the two main terms ‘blind’ and ‘partially sighted’. Within the spectrum of needs generated by visual impairment, McLinden and Douglas (2016) speak of the barrier to information access and how information allows the development of students’ knowledge, perceptions, and abilities. Therefore, access to learning occurs when ‘the child is provided with access to appropriate information in order to learn about a particular curriculum area’ (McLinden & Douglas, 2016, p. 183). In the case of music education, it is not just a question of materials (e.g. Braille scores, talking scores, or large-print notation); the educator can also adapt activities and look for appropriate strategies to transmit the necessary information to the students. Thus, the set of these elements that make up teaching–learning resources in the classroom is what permits access to learning by visually impaired students.

The starting point from an inclusive perspective, in cases where the visually impaired student attends a general music education centre (e.g., ordinary schools, music schools, and conservatories) is the philosophy that all the students belong to the group. Therefore, adaptive teaching is fostered, with specialized support offered at the educational centre attended by the student (Stainback, Stainback, & Jackson, 2001). In these cases, although some specialized support is provided outside the classroom, the basic core of the integrated student’s schooling will continue to take place within the class group (Puigdellívol, 2009). This places the responsibility on the school staff and the teacher in charge, who must have effective teaching resources and ideas that provide guidelines on how to cope with visual impairment and involve all the students in the classroom (McDowell, 2010; Pearpoint & Marsha, 2001).

According to McDowell (2010), the teacher in charge of a mainstream music classroom should be able to adapt the curriculum, classroom activities, and materials and have a generic set of effective pedagogical strategies that while not definitive – which they should not be – provide guidelines that benefit all the students in the class. Meanwhile, Baker and Green (2016) state that to achieve effective music education, apart from resources and specialized support, the particular condition of each visually impaired student must be taken into account, the learning processes related to the score format in use, the technology available to the students, and its compatibility with music software. In addition, Chaves (2013) and Ockelford (2000) argue that it would be worth increasing the adaptation and preparation of music education materials intended for those working in this field in order to facilitate learning processes.

The way of appropriating musical language (or solfa) is a controversial issue that generates a lot of debate in our discipline. On the background, there is the idea of whether it is necessary or not to have a system of codes that represents language. We are on the side of authors such as Galera (2012), Jorquera (2002), and Leal (2006) considering that music notation, accompanied by activities that relate it to sound and the meaning of the notation itself, can promote music learning as a tool for organizing mental representations and symbolization. Moreover, as reported by Baker and Green (2016), there had tended to be an emphasis on notated ways of transmitting music, even though there has been interest in informal learning and ear-playing techniques. In general terms, all the students at a music school or conservatory who hope to become professionals must, without exception, master music notation. In this context, blind students are faced by the need to learn and use Braille music notation to meet the demands of making music both inside and outside school (Baker, 2014), especially in genres such as classical music. In contexts such as this one, the mastery of Braille notation is extremely important for music learning (Chaves, 2014) and together with the use of assistive devices and technologies, is the main source of student autonomy (Egea, 2008). It enables them to understand music theory, compose, learn repertoire (Baker, 2014), and feel and create their own music, instead of just imitating the sounds they hear (Park & Kim, 2014).

In the Spanish context, the educational system is guaranteed for everyone aged 6–16 years. As reported by Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (ONCE; Spanish National Organization of the Blind), there are currently more than 99% of the visually impaired schoolchildren attending mainstream schools, following the regular curriculum and receiving specific attention according to their particular needs. In the case of blind children, Braille system plays a crucial mean for learning, including the musical education.

However, Braille music is not the only available way for learning music for a visually impaired person. According to Baker and Green (2017), partially sighted people with some functional vision can use modified stave notation, large-print formats, and magnification. Modified stave notation is a score format which modifies some of the elements of stave notation, changing the size, thickness, or colour to be more easily read by a partially sighted person. Large-print stave notation is an overall rescaled score enlarged by photocopying or by a computer screen or tablet using common or specialist magnification software. For the partially sighted and blind people who do not use any of these mentioned forms either because are unable or no longer able to read stave notation, another music-learning way are talking scores, which involve the translation of notated music into either a computer-generated rendition or a verbal description. Finally, for both sighted and blind people, it is commonly used ear playing for learning music, either for popular, folk music, jazz, and even for Western classical traditions. The most common ways for learning music by ear playing are copying notes from audio recordings (Cds, Mp3s), copying from Internet sources (e.g., YouTube), and copying from live musicians (Baker & Green, 2017).

All in all, given music teachers’ need for a greater knowledge of the factors that favour inclusion, this article seeks, specifically, to expand on the nature of the teaching–learning resources and specialized support needed to integrate visually impaired students in the mainstream classroom in the contexts of compulsory and non-compulsory music education.

Method

Results I: conceptualization of the categories

For reasons of space, in this article, we only discuss the categories related to teaching–learning strategies and specialized support. See Figure 1 for the list of categories and subcategories of these two major themes.

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Figure 1.

List of categories and subcategories of mayor themes: teaching–learning strategies and specialist support.

The two themes with their categories and respective subcategories, definition, and description are presented below.

Results II: relationships between categories

Having defined and conceptualized the categories and subcategories of the research on teaching–learning resources and specialist support, the relationships existing between them were studied. A conceptual map is presented below (Figure 2), which displays the direct and indirect connections between the categories. This map was drawn up to help understand the general context of what the inclusion of visually impaired students in the music classroom implies.

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Figure 2.

Relationships between the categories and subcategories of teaching-learning resources and specialist support.

Figure 2 shows how the three categories of teaching–learning resources (strategies, materials, and adaptations) are related jointly and directly with specialist support. In turn, the different kinds of specialist support are related to each other through the specialist support provided by the ONCE and the teachers. The unbroken lines indicate a direct relationship, that is, these are the cases where one category has a direct, unilateral influence over another. The broken lines indicate a complimentary or reciprocal relationship between categories.

The relationships between teaching–learning resources are mostly complementary or reciprocal, and they occur between Braille music teaching-learning strategies, transcribed materials, inclusive classroom strategies, and the adaptation of activities. This shows how the learning of Braille symbols is connected to the need for adaptation of the transcribed materials and the activities, in order to later accompany them with the appropriate strategies so that the information reaches the blind students. In this process, music teachers will have to clear up any doubts and order transcribed materials for the preparation of classes, which leads to a relationship with specialist support, provided either by a specialist centre or a support teacher.

There is also a direct relationship between the adaptation of materials, didactic materials, and transcribed materials, where two types of materials are an adaptation. The transcribed materials, that is, the Braille scores, the Braille class notes and the materials in text format (in Braille or in digital format) are an adaptation of the materials used in the classroom by visually impaired students. As regards, the didactic materials used by the teachers, the tactile graphics are also an adaptation of the materials. Itinerant teachers often act as mediators who ask the ONCE to adapt the didactic materials (tactile graphics) for use in the classroom, as part of the process of student accompaniment.

For the adaptation of activities and to collect information about inclusive classroom strategies, the support of itinerant teachers again proves useful, since through them, class teachers can communicate with the music specialists to clear up any doubts. Specialist support from teachers is also linked to the adaptation of activities and Braille music teaching–learning strategies, since as well as transcribing and adapting materials the support teacher’s duties include the adaptation of activities and teaching of Braille music to blind students. Braille music teaching–learning strategies are also linked to the specialist support provided by the ONCE because it is the music specialists who know best how to teach Braille music to visually impaired students.

As regards inclusive classroom strategies, the ONCE offers teacher training (especially at primary school level). This includes theoretical and experiential aspects that acquaint them with what to expect in the classroom. In the same way, the knowledge acquired through support teachers can be imparted in self-learning pamphlets prepared by the ONCE and containing technical information on Braille notation. Also, in cases where music teachers cannot be trained by the ONCE music specialists, information about general strategies to be applied in the classroom can also be provided by itinerant teachers.

Conclusion and discussion

This article is part of a larger body of research in which other important aspects of inclusion such as teacher training and student autonomy were explored from the standpoint of the general music classroom. Here, we have focussed on teaching–learning resources and specialist support in the field of music education, given the lack of scientific literature on the subject. Our findings are presented as themes, categories, and subcategories. These facilitate an understanding of the different elements involved and their relationships in favour of the inclusion in the classroom of visually impaired students.

Specifically, it may be affirmed that teaching–learning resources (strategies, adaptations, and materials) lie at the core of inclusive teaching in the music classroom in contexts where music notation is in use. The responsibility for inclusive music teaching lies with the teachers, as pointed out by Pearpoint and Marsha (2001), with the basic core of the student teaching–learning process developing in the general music classroom, regardless of the available support (in line with Puigdellívol, 2009). Likewise, teaching–learning resources are provided through the support coming from specialized centres and support teachers. They are offered to both teachers and visually impaired students. Support is always necessary, irrespective of the student’s degree of autonomy.

We have also seen how adaptations are essential to inclusive teaching because they are the resource that enables blind students to participate actively in the classroom (by adapting activities and/or materials). As described by Mata, Rodríguez, and Bolívar (2004), this research confirms that strategies used in combination with classroom activities and other teaching–learning resources promote the understanding of content and achieve the proposed goals. According to these authors, the adaptations are intended to specifically facilitate the learning process of students with special educational needs. For this reason, we agree with Onrubia (2009) in that adaptive teaching is the model that pays most attention to the goals of inclusive education because it ensures all students continue to learn together and share the same goals.

As regards to technical and transcribed materials, they also play a crucial role in inclusive music education, and it could be asserted that the autonomy of blind students is subject to the use of these materials. We can see that in some specific contexts such as classical music, the learning of Braille music is of vital importance for the students to fully understand musical theory and meet the demands required of musicians both inside and outside the classroom, as explained by Baker (2014). Observing the ONCE intervention, it can be said that it is thanks to the use of active technology and opportune access to scores and class materials that blind students can cope without having to resort to outside help. In this respect, we agree with Chaves (2013) and Park and Kim (2014) in that the mastery of Braille music is the starting point for the independence and autonomy of blind students, and with Egea (2008) in that autonomy is also possible thanks to the use of assistive technology. Ultimately, we agree with Baker and Green (2017) that quality music education would surely involve playing by ear as well as playing from a score, either if it is Braille music or any other adapted format.

In parallel, it is the responsibility of class group teachers to introduce the teaching–learning resources needed for the inclusion of blind students and they need a minimum of training to do so. As stated above, preparation of classes includes the planning of activities, strategies, and the provision of materials, adaptations, and supports needed to reach all the students in the class and make inclusion possible. In other words, teachers in charge of mainstream music classes must have a generic set of effective pedagogical strategies at their disposal and possess basic notions about how to cope with visual impairment (McDowell, 2010). This is particularly the case at music schools and conservatories, where it is necessary to prepare new music education materials and also didactic guides that orientate the teachers’ work in the classroom (Chaves, 2013; Ockelford, 2000).

On the same lines, we share York’s et al. (2001) ideas which affirm that the provision of support requires more than just a mastery of the discipline of music and that specialized knowledge is necessary. This research confirms the indispensable role played by specialized centres such as the ONCE, which provide support at various levels, from the adaptation of materials and strategies to teacher training, consultancy services, provision of technical materials, and student training.

Although we have paid special attention to Braille users (blind students) in the discussion of materials, given that the Braille system is ‘the most important factor distinguishing the musical education of a blind child from that one who can see’ (Ockelford, 1992, p. 7), the contributions made by this study are valid for the entire group of people with visual impairment.

Finally, it should be noted that this research aims to give added value to the study of inclusion from the perspective of what is needed in the music classroom. This approach paves the way for new lines of research that we think are essential for the proper inclusion of visually impaired students in the framework of music education and, ultimately, musical activity in general.