VISUALIZATION AND VERBALIZATION IN THE USE OF SPECIAL MUSIC EDUCATION

Abstract

The goal of the present proposal is to present a series of techniques for teaching Music. Those techniques emerged during our music teaching sessions with mentally challenged individuals when it became imperative that we set the limitations to and framework of our teaching efforts. Lest we forget, when dealing with the framework described above, “music” becomes a term with multiple meanings for good reason: whether the teaching of music refers to the instruction process itself; or whether it touches on developing through music a series of skills such as memory, perception, and more, mentally challenged persons who have been taught music may be empowered to express themselves through some musical instrument and, by extension, participate in a musical ensemble and read sheet music with a view to reproducing a musical work or, ultimately, do both. The teaching method adopted was founded on the systematic clinical application of two (2) techniques: visualization and verbalization (e.g., of tempo and musical notes). Those two techniques had already been used within the framework of two Erasmus +KA2 European programs and were: (a) T.E.L.L. Through Music (Leader: Lithuania); and (b) M.E.L.O.S. (Leader: Greece). Additionally, they had been employed within the framework of the “Makris Method” on which the ME.L.O.S. Program was based presented at Rēzekne, Latvia (Makris, 2005). Results were highly encouraging and implemented during the course of the Erasmus + KA2 CAP European program “Cap sur l'école inclusive en Europe” (Leader: APJH – France).