Module 8 Samples

Module 8 – Discussion Forum

Prompt: 

In your opinion, what do the authors position as the most significant considerations for the field moving forward? (Opportunities or challenges)

Frid (2019) calls attention to and advocates for multi-sensory and multimodal accessible digital musical instruments, people with visual and hearing impairments, older adults, and younger children. Out of 83 instruments, almost half of instruments were unimodal (auditory only), limiting access to those with hearing impairments. Only one instrument had vibratory feedback, which was an indirect result of sound waves from adjacent devices. Twelve incorporated vibrotactile feedback. As a result, there is room for improvement in developing trimodal feedback: auditory, visual, and vibrotactile. In examining areas of growth, one must considered the medical model considers the disabling factor within a musician, whereas the social model perceives the exclusionary designs of musical interfaces and non-inclusive attitudes as disabling factors.

Additionally, there is room for improvement in researching, testing, and applying how instruments can be played together or "intended to be used by larger groups of people simultaneously" (p. 11). This is where Universal Design for Learning is beneficial. Differentiated instruction and modifications benefit all learners. If the Declaration of Human Rights ensures the right to participate in cultural life and arts, and the World Health Organization's ICF model emphasizes full participation in society through music, we should highlight the community and ensemble aspects of playing instruments.

Multi-sensory interfaces would have been beneficial. Children with autism are more sensitive to stimuli and may have hyposensitivity or hypersensitivity. While these are not learning disorders in themselves recognized by the DSM, they do present exceptionalities in our classroom that require us to think about the signal, stimulus, data, and response in sensory processing. As a result, moving forward we should consider more multi-sensory and multimodal opportunities in the groups of people we are working with.