Reflections, NYMAZ SEND Music Network Gathering

Earlier this month, NYMAZ held its annual SEND Music Network Gathering, a chance for network members from across North Yorkshire to meet each other, and share an afternoon of enriching and educational experiences around the topic of music-making with children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Projects Officer Millie Watkins reflected on the day in this blog...

Research in Special Schools

We know from past CPD events that our network members place great value in being kept up-to-date with academic studies and current research findings in their field of work, and so our first guest speaker for the afternoon was Sarah Mawby, Postgraduate Researcher from the School of Music, University of Leeds. Sarah’s research has explored music education and music therapy in special schools. She described having differentiated the two practices by their purpose (with music education focusing on musical goals, and music therapy on non-musical goals) and their approach (music education primarily teacher-led, music therapy primarily child-led), though she also highlighted the crossovers and limitations of these labels, as reflected in the research findings, too.

Sarah went on to give delegates a preview of a new longitudinal study, “Music in Schools for Children with SEND: A Whole School Perspective”, which studies in depth the music provision in three Yorkshire special schools. The project involves her taking up full-time residencies over three years to observe sessions, speak to staff and pupils, and ultimately to begin to develop a theory of best practice. A paper from Sarah’s earlier research has now been published online, and you’ll find the article on page 584 of the document here.

Assistive Music Technology

Our next guests were Drake Music’s Yorkshire Programme Development Manager Charlotte Nicol and Associate Musician Gary Day. Charlotte began by introducing the work of Drake Music, an organisation pioneering the use of assistive music technology to break down disabling barriers to music-making. Drake Music are experts in special educational needs and disability (SEND) music delivery, and in using technology in all kinds of situations where it can increase music-making possibilities. After Charlotte’s overview, we got into the nitty-gritty, with Gary taking the group on an interactive tour of a range of hi-tech and home-made technologies, from switches to games controllers, movement sensors to iPad apps and sound manipulators.

Communication and Play

Kate Pearson was the next guest, leading a workshop which explored a fascinating activity using home-made paper boats. The activity allowed participants to communicate without words, through sending sounds and messages ‘via water boat’ to each other. Kate described having used the concept with a group of young people with Autism, and their delight in receiving personal messages from the boat as it ‘journeyed’ around the group. Delegates also created a simple song together, inspired by the activity. If you’d like to have a go, try playing some water-themed music to accompany the activity, such as ‘The water is wide’ - traditional, ‘Hebrides Overture’ - Mendelssohn, ‘La Mer’ - Debussy, ‘Sailing’ – Rod Steward, ‘Vltava’ – Smetena. Kate also kindly shared the card outlines for making a boat like this one. Contact millie@nymaz.org.uk if you'd like to know more.

Learning to ‘Signalong’

Finally, a varied afternoon was rounded off with a favourite activity for NYMAZ SEND Music Network Gatherings. Hannah Thompson, representing NYMAZ partner Accessible Arts & Media, led a very short introduction to sign-supported communication, taking delegates through the basics of ‘Signalong’, a variation of sign-supported communication based on British Sign Language, with sometimes simplified, user-friendly signs suitable for people with learning disabilities and special educational needs. After a brief introduction to the language and its common uses, delegates learned to present themselves using their own name signs, and learnt their first signing song ‘Good Day’. The short workshop was designed as a warm up to a more substantial 3-hour training session taking place on 11 January, at Pickering Memorial Hall, which network members and other practitioners are invited to attend. Find out more about the January training here: nymazssc2016.eventbrite.co.uk

Millie Watkins, October 2015