[Greater-baltimore] Addaptations for the Blind Music Theory Teacher

[Chris Nusbaum]

Rachel,

Firstly, welcome to the list and to the Greater Baltimore chapter. I look
forward to seeing your contributions to this list and to the Federation.

You may want to subscribe to our Music Talk list, which is sponsored by the
NFB's National Association of Blind Musicians (NABM.) To subscribe to this
list, go to www.nfbnet.org and click on "Join or Drop NFBNet Mailing Lists."
On that page, click on "Musictlk" and follow the prompts to subscribe. This
may be a better list on which to ask your questions. I hope this helps.

Good luck,

Chris

Chris Nusbaum, Co-Chair
Public Relations Committee
Maryland Association of Blind Students
Phone: (443) 547-2409


-----Original Message-----
From: Greater-baltimore [mailto:greater-baltimore-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Rachel Grider
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2013 9:50 AM
To: greater-baltimore at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Greater-baltimore] Addaptations for the Blind Music Theory Teacher

Hello, Everyone:

 

I am a new subscriber to this list, so I thought I would introduce myself.
My name is Rachel Grider, and I am going to graduate from Peabody
Conservatory in a month with two MM degrees in voice and music theory
pedagogy. I am currently writing my thesis on adaptations for the blind
theory teacher, a subject which does not seem to have been explored much.
Once this is published, I am hoping that it will open up many doors for me
and other blind musicians who are wanting to make a career in theory.

 

There are a few topics about which I would very much like some feedback.
These are questions faced by music teachers, but I thought that some of you
might face similar issues, especially those of you who teach or have taught,
and I welcome any suggestions or thoughts you may have.



 First, I would like some ideas about how the blind teacher can check
students' in-class work. For example, if the students are practicing
counterpoint exercises and the teacher should go around and check their
work, what is the best way for the blind teacher to do this? Is it even
possible to do it this way?

 

Second, I would very much like ideas on teaching more advanced analysis to
sighted students. I have been toying with ideas, but I have not yet actually
taught this part of theory, and I'm not sure if they would work. How can
students show the blind teacher that they know how to analyze a score? They
could, of course, mark their answers on Sibelius, but can I require them to
get Sibelius? Meeting with them one-on-one could be an option, but what if
the class is very large and there just isn't enough time? I also thought of
making a spreadsheet in XL with pictures of each measure in a box, and there
would be spaces for the different aspects of analysis which they would fill
in. Does this sound like a reasonable idea?

 

My third question has to do with teaching beginning students how to write
music symbols and place them correctly on the staff. I could, of course, use
felt or magnetic cut-outs for this, but I was wondering if anyone else had
suggestions?

 

Lastly, I would like to hear your philosophies about how much residual
vision should be used in the classroom, both for the blind teacher and for
the blind student.I try not to use any, but I'm wondering if it might be
practical for some teachers to use some vision to perform certain tasks,
such as demonstrating how to write notes and clefs.  Thoughts?

 

Thank you so much for your help!

 

Cheers,

 

Rachel Grider
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