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

Fri Apr 26 21:04:24 UTC 2013

MaryJo and Rachel,

These suggestions are good ones. By the way, the musicians division I
mentioned in my previous email also meets on Division Day at national
convention.

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 mary jo hartle
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2013 2:43 PM
To: 'NFB of Maryland Baltimore Chapter Discussion List'
Subject: Re: [Greater-baltimore] Addaptations for the Blind Music Theory
Teacher

Hi Rachael,
These are some great questions.  I have some ideas, but it's kind of hard to
put it all into an email.  Maybe we could talk sometime. Another avenue you
may want to explore is asking the blind educators list.  There is a division
of the NFB for blind teachers  and I know a lot of the same kinds of
questions--i.e. checking students' work, classroom management, etc. get
asked there a lot.  If you are going to national convention, this group also
meets on division day so you could go and talk one on one with some teachers
already in the field(not necessarily in the music education field though).
Just some other things that may help.
Mary Jo 

-----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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