An Ethnographic Case Study of Music Learning at a School for the Blind

Abstract

Abstract This ethnographic case study investigated the teaching and learning of music at a residential school for the blind in the southwest United States. Data collection included student and teacher interviews, and observation of classes and used a social constructivist framework of disability. Students reported that they received inadequate modifications in music instruction when they attended public school. At the school for the blind, students used a variety of resources, including modified standard notation and literary Braille, but not Braille music. These findings suggest students with visual impairments have unique and effective ways of communicating and learning music that differ from sighted students, but these abilities were not acknowledged in public school and they perceived this inequality. Finally, it is suggested that obtaining the perspectives of students who receive disability-specific education provides another facet to the research on perspectives on special education in music.