Comparación de las variables del comportamiento verbal de los clientes respecto a las actividades del terapeuta.

Many participants saw music as something which was fundamentally accessible:

H: [I]t's something he can do. You know, there's a lot of things he can't do. "Does he want to take part in five-a-side football?", Cubs said.3 _{"Probably not."}

I: [Laughs].

H: You know, music is something – I don't mean he can play tunes but he can -do- things on music – he can strum the ukulele.

(School 3, Primary Care-Giver Interview, Helen)

A lot of people can bang a drum, even if they can’t speak

(School 3, Primary Care-Giver Interview, Penny) I do think it’s so accessible

(School 1, Site 1, Practitioner Interview, Class 1 Teacher)

As can be seen from the quotations above, however, the fundamental level of access described was often very basic. ‘Strumming a ukulele’ and ‘banging a drum’ may constitute engagement with a musical stimulus but they are not representative of developing musical skill or understanding. Therefore, in order to make music learning activities impactful, practitioners had to think about ways in which they could make these activities accessible. This was particularly pertinent for Schools 2 and 3 as their

3 _{Cubs (or Cub Scouts) is a section of the Scout Association for children and young people}

aged 8-10½. The Scouting Association provides a range of extra-curricular activities for its members which are aimed at developing confidence and a sense of adventure.

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curricula were designed to enable students to develop both musical and non-musical skills. For School 1 Site 1, the emphasis on using music as a ‘vehicle’ to develop non- musical skills meant that the fundamental accessibility of music described above, had greater importance. The Site Leader explained:

I think that we use music because it’s easy to do; it covers a multitude of things because you can play it and children can listen to it, staff can sing it, it does quite a lot of stuff. (School 1, Site 1, Practitioner Interview, Site Leader)

Music was therefore seen as an ‘easy’ and effective tool to encourage students to engage in activities that would help them to develop functional skills. However, in order to facilitate students’ involvement in these activities, there were other aspects of accessibility that needed to be taken into account. The need to adapt provision to suit pupils’ moods and preferences was important, as was allowing students to engage with activities in their own way. Ensuring students were physically comfortable and

minimising unnecessary distractions such as additional auditory and visual stimuli were also seen to be helpful. Finally, allowing plenty of time for students to develop new skills through music was imperative. Repetition was key and many practitioners mentioned in their interviews that without repetition students would be unable to anticipate what was required of them which could consequently affect their ability to actively participate in sessions:

It must be repetitive. Doing a stand-alone session is not going to be useful. It’s about building the anticipation so that they know where the session is going, so that they can predict, so that they can contribute.

(School 1, Site 1, Practitioner Interview, Class 4 Teacher)

For Schools 2 and 3, the musical aims and objectives associated with the curriculum meant that there were additional aspects of accessibility that needed to be taken into account. Perhaps the most pertinent of these was ensuring that the

instruments used during music lessons were accessible. The student participants at School 3 all recounted difficulties with ‘finding an accessible instrument’. Louisa, for example, had been given an opportunity to learn how to play the guitar. However, due to the nature of some of her physical impairments, she found it difficult to adjust her fingers to fit the required position for playing: “my fingers don’t really stick to the strings” (School 3, Student Interview, Louisa). Moana also recounted experiencing access difficulties in whole-class music lessons. For example, she recounted an

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experience in a lesson where students were tasked with forming a junk band (i.e. using everyday objects as instruments):

M: I were on the bucket, and my teacher like, put it like, high-up so that it were like dangling in front of me, and when I hit it, it kept swinging.

I: Oh no! M: Yeah.

I: That's awkward! [Laughs]. Oh dear. Wow. So they were trying to make it more accessible for you but actually, potentially made it a bit worse, because you’re gonna’ get hit in the face and stuff aren't you? [Laughs].

M: Yeah, it were, it was [laughs].

(School 3, Student Interview, Moana)

Ensuring that the choice of instrument was accessible for all students was therefore crucial.

Sometimes, no matter how hard practitioners tried to adjust their practice to suit pupils’ needs, traditional musical instruments remained inaccessible for students. As Vignette 5.6 shows, occasionally the inaccessibility of these instruments meant that students were unable to participate in music lessons in the same way as their

classmates. In these instances, incorporating accessible music technology into the session may have been an effective solution. School 3, for example, had recently bought in an external practitioner who specialised in accessible music technology to lead some music workshops with some of their students and to up-skill the staff in this area of practice. This was effective and the staff had learnt a lot from shadowing his work:

So for me watching him, the best practice was engaging them but making it accessible for them I think as well. Because a lot of these pupils won't be able to pick up guitar and do a chord or they don't have those fine motor skills, same for keyboard – but they can all strum a guitar, they can all make a noise on the drum and the technology as well that he introduced; [he had] a device where he can clip it on a, it clips onto a table, [and you] just hit it and it and it makes noise, for me, that's the best practice. Just making it accessible for them.

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The School 3 KS3 Music Teacher/Music Coordinator explained that she would ideally like to invest in additional music technology resources for the school but ‘considering cost’, ‘having confidence’ and ‘having adequate training’ were all factors that could affect how much impact this would have for students’ learning.

Vignette 5.6: Three Weeks of Samba Lessons at School 3 KS5 Music Lesson (13.04.2016)

The teacher hands out the percussion instruments to the pupils (one instrument per pupil) giving them the choice of what to play. He then gets each part to practice in turn. The Surdos go first (played by Joseph and Owen – Sheffield United rhythm), then the tamborim (played by Rosie – offbeat rhythm), then the shakers (played by Anthony, Whitney and Penelope – coca cola rhythm) and finally the Agogô (played by Natalie). The teacher then has the class play as an ensemble, cuing the instruments in one after the other (starting with the Surdos and ending with the Agogô). Almost all of the pupils end up playing well together on different parts. They are all focused and are able to follow and maintain their rhythms well. Only Anthony, a student with cerebral palsy, doesn’t maintain the correct beat. He’s struggling to shake the shaker in time (the instrument isn’t the most accessible for him). Later in the lesson, he swaps his shaker for a drum and beater. The beater isn’t quite right and he switches it from a padded one to one with a plastic head. Still it’s not quite right and, despite being supported by a TA, Anthony’s ability to participate in this session is limited (although he does his best to join in).

KS5 Music Lesson (20.04.2016)

Following on from last week’s lesson, the teacher decides to go over the breaks in the Samba piece first (the pupils were struggling with these last week). He reintroduces break 1. The students are told that they need to play their normal rhythms until they hear him blow his whistle. When they hear this, they have to count to four and then play four crotchet beats in a row, in unison before moving onto the second rhythm they learnt last week. He asks the class to put their instruments down and practice this first by clapping the rhythm. Anthony is unable to clap and so plays on a drum instead. He still finds this difficult and, despite his best efforts, is the only student in the class who is unable to play in time

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KS5.3 Music Lesson (27.04.2016)

Anthony has the same drum as last week. He chooses a beater from a couple on offer from the teacher. The teacher asks him if he feels comfortable with that one. Anthony says yes. After a couple of minutes Anthony asks if he can swap the beater for a different one. He explains that he’s struggling to keep hold of it when playing. A TA helps him switch to another one of his choosing. Anthony still isn’t happy with this beater. The teacher brings some more over for him to try out. They’re all not quite right.

Primary care-givers also mentioned that specific accommodations would need to be considered if their child were to have access to learning to play an instrument. These included the provision of one-handed instruments as well as those with adjustable volume control to accommodate students’ sensory needs:

I think she's quite limited in what kind of instrument she could play with one hand. It is quite difficult but she does, she does enjoy playing instruments.

(School 3, Primary Care-Giver Interview, Giovanna)

The music education that my eldest got was playing a brass instrument. For Lewis that was no good. The noise hurt his ears.

(School 3, Primary Care-Giver Interview, Penny)

Additional ways in which practitioners made lesson content more accessible included ensuring that written materials were easy for students to understand (e.g. through the use of picture exchange communication systems (PECS) or by ensuring that the printed font of a document was large enough for students to read), using alternative forms of notation (e.g. graphic scores) to represent musical sounds, and using powerpoint presentations or information presented on a whiteboard to offer students a visual reminder of what they were supposed to be doing at particular points in the lesson. All accommodations were adapted to the needs of specific students. Again, the need to be flexible and admit when something was not working was important here, as the School 3 KS3 Music Teacher/Music Coordinator explained:

You don't have to make it difficult for yourself. There are lots of things that you can do and it is a challenge a lot of the time and sometimes you think

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it would be fine for him," and he found it really uncomfortable. So you know, we've invested in plectrums for that situation. So again, it's that problem-solving thing all the time. Like thinking “oh yeah what can we do for them? How can we do it for them?” And just having lots of different things for them to use to be able to participate so if one thing's not working then let’s try another and let’s try another. Never say never. I think that's the thing, let's just keep trying until we find something.

(School 3, Practitioner Interview, KS3 Music Teacher/Music Coordinator)