Download elements of music for sensory adaptation some big ideas to keep in

ELEMENTS OF MUSIC
FOR SENSORY ADAPTATION
SOME BIG IDEAS TO KEEP IN MIND:
1. What one brain perceives as sounding pleasing, another brain may perceive as
sounding irritating.
2. Fear results in fight or flight. A brain that is overstimulated will fight the external
sounds or tune them out. It is our job to make the music “connect” to the student.
3. The elements of music are often the perfect tools to reduce fear, engage a student and
eventually help the student adapt. Learning cannot take place until this occurs.
1. RHYTHM a physiologic organizer, induces a phenomenon called
“entrainment” when the body’s rhythmic pulse aligns to a persistent external
stimulus.
 Pulse – beat, meter, patterns of strong and weak beats. The simplicity of
this is very appealing to students.
 Patterns – rhythmic patterns keep the brain alert once it has processed the
pulse. Chants are effective for students who are non-verbal because they
break down language into patterned syllables.
 Perseveration (Repetition) – an ostinato, a repeated pattern; can be a
driving force to make the brain pay attention and finally give in and adapt
to the new stimulus.
2. TEMPO
 Effective for different results.
 Slow – can induce calmness, can be used to see how long a student can
stay focused.
 Fast - can animate the system, effective for improving motor skills (finemotor skills such as instrument playing, gross-motor skills such as
movement activities).
Rhythmic internalization happens when the body’s instinctive rhythms are
controlled by external rhythms. This is what we want for all students.
3. MELODY
 Before speech, there were basic, instinctive human calls which contained
inflection. They did not involve cognitive processing. A lot of information
about this…can you name a basic human vocalization (laughter, sobbing,
etc.) these are rhythmic exhalations and inhalations which also have
prosody or inflection. Music is an extension of these - a good place to start
if you have students who are non-verbal. More on this later when we
discuss vocalization.
 Melodic contours which are step-wise create a sense of anticipation,
waiting for a sense of resolution.
 Melodic contours that are erratic with leaps create a sense of restlessness.
 Melody connects vocal sounds into self-expression then into word
meanings.
4. HARMONY
 For some students, music with a thick harmony is over-stimulating. How
can you take a piano accompaniment and adapt it for a student that has
issues with this? (just the melody, melody with chord root, melody with
octaves or perfect 5ths, melody with arpeggiated bass, melody with block
chords, etc.)
 It is the color or mood of the harmony that has the most effect on a
student. Can you think of an incident you’ve had where you observed a
negative effect of this?
5. TIMBRE/TONE COLOR
 What sounds pleasing to one person may be irritating or problematic for
another. Can you think of an environmental sound, an instrument sound or
a singer’s voice that is irritating to you, but doesn’t bother those around
you?
 Certain tone colors or frequencies may elicit behavior problems. Think of
how a dog whistle affects dogs, but not humans. Document your students’
reactions.
 Students who have difficulty discriminating between sounds often have the
same problem in speech. Ask the speech therapist at your school to help
you with this.
6. DYNAMICS
 Indicate a state of emotion.
 Students with poor muscle control will demonstrate extreme dynamics or
erratic playing. Activities involving crescendo and decrescendo can help to
address this lack of motor control.
 Dynamic changes also help students to attend and stay engaged. Think of
using the element of dynamic to help control 2 things: emotion… and
motion…
You need to keep asking yourself, “What is this student’s tolerance level for this
particular element of music?”
especially tone color and dynamics!
7. FORM
 The structure of music is appealing to students because it is orderly.
 Form aids in the development of attention span.
 Music – evolves, peaks, resolves. Think of how listening to music is like
completing a task. Having students engage in musical examples that
gradually get longer help improve their attention span.
 Task – created, organized, completed.
 Attention span for some students may be minutes, for others only
seconds.
 Think of form in varying lengths: one measure, one phrase, one verse, one
piece. Plan according to your student’s present level of attention and
work from there. Try to document their growth.
Berger, Dorita S. (2002) Music Therapy, Sensory Integration and the Autistic Child.
Philadelphia and London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
There is a lot of research being done on the different parts of the brain.
We hear a lot about right hemisphere and left hemisphere.
But there’s another way to think about it: old brain and new brain.
The old brain (paleoencephalon) is in charge of primitive functions. The new brain (neo-cortex) is
in charge of more cognitive functions. This is important for us to understand because
information will not reach the cognitive levels unless it is allowed to pass through the
paleoencephalon. That’s why sensory adaptation is so important and why the elements of
music are such a good tool.