Understanding Music and Universal Design for Learning: Strategies for Students with

Learning Differences in the 21st Century

P-12 music education program attributes:

Focuses solely on performance

Base most programmatic decisions on Euro-centric traditions within a
hierarchy that assumes some music is of higher quality than other music
Does not provide equal access to requisite knowledge and opportunities for
engagement and expression- excluding a large majority of students
Use of UDL to provide equal opportunities to reach high standards in music:

Multiple Means of Engagement

Multiple Means of Representation
Multiple Means of Action and Expression

Principles of UDL:

Principle 1: Multiple means of Engagement in Music Education:

o Excitement/ motivation/ interest
o Inclusion Models and Examples to promote engagement for all:
Partner Ensembles: Students without disabilities working in
elementary and secondary, paired with students with
disabilities.
Reverse inclusion: Students without disabilities working in
classes with students who have disabilities, whether it is a music
course or other curricular activity.
Peer music lessons/ chamber music opportunities
o Micro:
Look into student interests and how they can supplement the
program (ex: hobbies/ instruments played outside of band).
Utilizing garage band/ soundstation/ etc. to allow for composition
without barrier of instrument and traditional pedagogy.
Feedback: honest, regular, and positive
Teacher or peer feedback.
Should be paired with concrete solutions to challenges.
Use follow-up questions to lessons
o Spoken or written
Principle 2: Multiple Means of Representation:
Macro Level:
o Provide alternative representation- song writing, small-group
vernacular ensembles, secondary general music, etc.
Micro Level:
o Theory of Mind: The awareness of how mental states such as
memories, beliefs, desires, and how intentions govern the behavior or
self and others.
o Use of pictures and texts to further explain nuances of conducting and
facial expressions
o Allow students to work in multiple forms of media
o Use frequent visual, descriptive, and aural modeling
Understanding Music and Universal Design for Learning: Strategies for Students with
Learning Differences in the 21st Century

Principle 3: Multiple Means of Action and Expression:

Macro Level:
o Goal setting/ planning and strategy development/ focus on final goal
and monitoring progress , developing expertise in executive functions
o Create individual and group goals! Promote these goals on a regular
basis through performance, recordings, and discussion
o Peers can transcribe goals for students who struggle with fine-motor
skills
o informance
Micro-level:
o Supply informative videos
o Run teacher blog to be reached for questions outside of class
Assessment:
o feedback loop
Get feedback perspective from both teacher and student- who in
the community is understanding and gaining from feedback?
Wiki- creating online portfolio that uses interactive assessment
between teacher and student through posts/ conversation