Case History - Special Needs Children, 'Make Some Noise'
Wednesday 19th August 2009
In Scotland, funding from the Scottish Arts Council's Youth Music Initiative has supported the development of an innovative, creative project which provides a model way of working with children with special needs. As part of a larger project at Donaldson's College, Linlithgow (Scotland's national residential and day school providing education and therapy for pupils who are deaf* or have severe speech and language difficulties), Alba Brass delivered a series of workshops with students from the upper school.
Together, they prepared for a performance featuring the premier of a piece entitle
d "Make Some Noise!", by trumpet player, Bede Williams. "Make Some Noise!" is a part fixed, part improvised piece for brass quintet, percussion and live electronics. The piece is split into two movements: 'Sounds in Nature'; and, 'Sounds in the City'. Within these contexts, the students picked creatively from an array of percussion instruments, matching them to a sound from nature or the city. Paying close attention to the capabilities of each individual, a signing interpreter used experiment and dialogue to enable each pupil to be matched with a sound source they could receive, in many cases through the sense of vibration.
In one student's case, a Nintendo Wii controller allowed participation in instant composition and live performance, using programmed pre-recorded sound samples from the relevant sound worlds. Without instruction the student was able to 'play' the Wii through hand gestures, manipulating the sounds within the frequencies he was able to hear.
Another student played with the beat of the brass quintet. As she discovered that she could feel the tuba, she was seated closer to it, resulting in her contribution to the natural pulse and direction of the music.
The workshops culminated in a highly successful and rewarding performance from both groups to a huge audience made up of the school, parents and invited guests.
Bede Williams remarked "The music staff at Donaldson's… recommendation to us was 'Don't decide what they can or can not hear for them'. This became somewhat of a mantra over the project and engaging the imaginations of these young people through composition and sound was a meaningful and important event for Alba Brass and the students involved."
Alba Brass and LMN are now expanding this groundbreaking programme. As well as delivering the project in Northern Ireland, they will be using it as the basis for a new collaborative, creative project in the United Arab Emirates (Al Ain).
*deaf is used in this article to cover Deaf pupils/hard of hearing and deafened
"The pupils said 'It was brilliant' and 'It was good.' All pupils of all abilities were totally engaged. This type of quality cultural experience, which all pupils find accessible, is invaluable. More visits just like this please." Ken Finn, Music Co-ordinator, Oakleigh Gardens School
"The audience was engaged, focussed and actively listening. It's very important for our students- 'real' music is an invaluable experience." Dryden School, Gateshead
"All pupils, with various Special Educatinoal Needs, were participating through clapping, percussion, dancing - even the 'cool' Year 11's. Cedars School, Gateshead
"It was wonderful to see my students responding so well to an unfamiliar music genre. Trinity School, Oakfield College, Newcastle
"Good, young male role models, with a career in the music industry, engaged the primary pupils and secondary alike." Bamburgh School, South Shields
