Music Literacy for Students with Visual Impairments: Presented by Kittie Cooper

Presentation Abstract: The purpose of my presentation is to provide an overview of the benefits of music literacy—reading and writing braille and print music—for students with visual impairments and multiple disabilities. There is a stereotype that students who are blind and visually impaired can learn everything through listening, but in reality all music students with visual impairments can benefit from learning to read and write music alongside their sighted peers. I will share teaching strategies that promote musical literacy from my own work experience and research: for example use of graphic and tactile pre-notation, movement and composition/performance activities that support literacy, and other strategies for teaching music braille and print music to students with visual impairments. TVIs often feel overwhelmed by helping students learn to read and write music, so I will also provide resources that can help TVIs support their students in accessing music curricula. As a TVI who specifically teaches music, I have had to create my own curricula for helping my students access musical notation, and have found ways to make these teaching strategies accessible even for TVIs or families who know nothing about music themselves.

*postponed from 2020 due to COVID-19