Sounds of Intent: Interactive Software to Assess the Musical Development of Children and Young People With Complex Needs

Abstract

This article outlines research in the final phase of the Sounds of Intent project, which explores musical development in children and young people with complex needs. This has been undertaken through observation and analysis using the previously developed ‘‘Sounds of Intent’’ schedule, which was designed through amassing 630 observations of children’s engagement in musical activities, fused with the findings of mainstream developmental music psychology and ‘zygonic’ theory, a psychomusicological approach to understanding how music makes sense to us all and building on previous extended fieldwork in schools. The main output will be a musical development framework package of web-based technology, containing video, photographs, and descriptions of children’s musical engagement. Practitioners can use the software to assess their pupils/clients, record their attainment and prog- ress, and download curriculum materials. The software is designed to become a user-owned constantly evolving, ‘‘wiki-based’’ resource, to which practitioners would contribute their own resources, ideas and views.