Blog
Preparing Students for Music Recitals
By: Nisreen Jardaneh Performing at a recital is part of the music learning experience. However, playing in front of an audience can be overwhelming. This is particularly true for students with exceptionalities for whom routine and consistency are essential, hence any...
Research to Practice: Sensory Processing and Autism Spectrum Disorder
By: Jeff Sabo Sensory processing is an essential part of our everyday lives. At each moment, our brain is trying to make sense of what is happening both inside and outside our body (1). It is constantly taking in information from our senses to make a meaningful...
Research to Practice: Autism and Pitch Perception
By: Jeff Sabo Pitch is a central part of music learning. As teachers, we may need to help students identify pitches, play them on an instrument, sing them, understand how they relate to one another, listen for tuning, and the list goes on. When we teach...
Exploring Music Composition and Appreciation in Online Music Lessons for Students with Exceptionalities
By: Nisreen Jardaneh Teaching music online has become the new norm. Even though this option comes with many benefits, it can be a bit challenging when you teach students with exceptionalities. The question is: How can you create an engaging online lesson that attracts...
Teaching Students who Don’t Practice
By Jeff Sabo Many music teachers will encounter students at some point who don’t practice. It often goes like this: You assign practice at the end of the lesson The student comes back next week without improving You feel frustrated and the student struggles to...
Balancing Structure and Student-Led Learning
By Dr. Erin Parkes When talking about teaching music to students with exceptionalities, two themes keep coming up: first, structure and routine are important. And second, to foster engagement, let the student lead. These can seem like conflicting ideals—how do you...
Perfectionism in Students with Exceptionalities and How to Help
By: Dr. Erin Parkes Any music educator who has been teaching for a while knows that perfectionism can be more of a curse than a blessing. It can be crippling for students who are not able to feel good about their progress unless their performance is “perfect” (which...
Intake meetings: Setting new students up for success
By: Jeff Sabo The new teaching year is starting soon, and you may have some new students with exceptionalities. While it's fun and exciting to meet new students, the first set of lessons can also be challenging. As teachers, we want to set our students up for success,...
When Activities are too Much: Responding to Sensory Needs
By: Christy Laarakker We all get excited as teachers about discovering activities and resources that will make our studios alive and our lessons fun and engaging. While learning is an exploratory process, that exploration can sometimes be too much for individuals...
Using Colour for Students with Learning Disabilities
By: Jeff Sabo Learning to read music can be a big challenge for any student. For some students with learning disabilities, difficulty reading can be an obstacle to traditional music learning altogether. One tool that can help students with learning disabilities read...