‘Me’ Framework of Wider Development
The first iterations of the Sounds of Intent Framework consciously avoided reference to other-than-musical forms of engagement, as an antidote to the tendency of educators at the turn of the century who were working with pupils and students who had learning difficulties to refer to anything except music in their music reports and assessments. Indeed, this tendency was embodied in the UK Government’s documentation – the so-called ‘P-Scales’ – relating to the education of children and young people with severe or profound and multiple learning difficulties. This focus on extra-musical factors may have arisen as a consequence of the fact that, in the UK, as children and young people with profound disabilities were welcomed into schools for the first time in the 1980s, appropriate music provision for them was largely (if not entirely) regarded as being therapeutic in nature. That is, their musical experiences were seen as seen as benefiting them primarily in extra-musical ways, and their engagement and progress in music tended to be measured in terms of extra-musical goals.
Having made the case for those with severe, or profound and multiple learning difficulties to be educated first and foremost in music, rather than regarding music principally as a means to other support other educational ends, the Sounds of Intent team re-introduced the notion of education through music in the form of the ‘Me’ Framework of Wider Development. This has four domains: ‘me: my body’, ‘me: my thoughts and feelings’, ‘me, you and other people’ and ‘me and my world’, representing a movement from biological concerns, to the psychological, the social and, finally, the cultural. It has descriptors relating to each domain pertaining to Levels 2–4 of the main Sounds of Intent Framework.
Each pertains to one of three sub-levels of engagement: ‘having a go’, got it!’ and ‘taking things further’. These correspond to the ‘emerging’, ‘achieving’ and ‘excelling’ descriptors of the music assessment matrix. More: Assessment DOC 60
Having a go
Got it!
Taking things further
The ‘Me’ Framework of Wider Development based on Sounds of Intent: Assessment Schedule
Main descriptor
Connects movement with sound
Connects repeated or uniform movement with simple patterns in sound
Connects short sequences of different movements with particular musical motifs
Connects feelings with sound
Connects emotional uniformity or change with simple patterns in sound
Connects distinct emotional states with particular musical motifs
Is aware of others through sound
Is aware of others’ thoughts and feelings through imitation in sound
Identifies and communicates with others through particular musical motifs
Is aware of the world through sound
Is aware of orderliness in the world simple patterns in sound
Associates key information about the world with particular musical motifs
‘Me’ dimension
Level
2
3
4
2
3
4
2
3
4
2
3
4
Me: my body
Me: my body
Me: my body
Me: my thoughts and feelings
Me: my thoughts and feelings
Me: my thoughts and feelings
Me, you and other people
Me, you and other people
Me, you and other people
Me and my world
Me and my world
Me and my world
Shows awareness of self through making vocal sounds or through making own body sounds or through making sound by interacting with the environment
Shows awareness of self in two different ways: through making vocal sounds and/or through making own body sounds and/or through making sound by interacting with the environment
Shows awareness of self in at least three different ways: through making vocal sounds and/or through making own body sounds and/or through making sound by interacting with the environment
Shows awareness of self by moving in response to a pattern or regular change in sound or through making a pattern of sounds through a repeated action or through a controlled movement that produces a regular change in sound (eg strumming a guitar)
Shows awareness of self by moving in response to a pattern or regular change in sound and through making a pattern of sounds through a repeated action or through a controlled movement that produces a regular change in sound (eg strumming a guitar)
Shows awareness of self by moving in response to a pattern and regular change in sound and through making a pattern of sounds through a repeated action and through a controlled movement that produces a regular change in sound (eg strumming a guitar)
Makes an appropriate physical gesture in response to its physical correlate (such as ‘left, right’ from Soundabout Tracks: Motifs ) and makes the necessary physical actions to sing or play a motif
Makes at least two appropriate physical gestures in response to their physical correlates (such as ‘left, right’ and ‘up and down’ from Soundabout Tracks: Motifs ) and makes the necessary physical actions to sing or play at least two motifs
Makes an appropriate physical gesture in response to its physical correlate (such as ‘left, right’ from Soundabout Tracks: Motifs ) or makes the necessary physical actions to sing or play a motif
Shows awareness of self through responding emotionally to sound or by expressing emotions through sound
Shows awareness of self through responding emotionally to sound and by expressing emotions through sound
Shows awareness of self through responding emotionally to sound in two or more different ways and by expressing two or more emotions through sound
Responds emotionally to a pattern of repeated sounds or through a regular change in sound or expresses emotions through repetition or regular change in sound
Responds emotionally to a pattern of repeated sounds or through a regular change in sound and expresses emotions through repetition or regular change in sound
Responds emotionally to a pattern of repeated sounds and through a regular change in sound and expresses emotions through repetition and regular change in sound
Responds to a musical motif with an associated text such as ‘happy’ from Soundabout Tracks: Motifs or expresses an emotion through singing or playing such a motif
Responds to a musical motif with an associated text such as ‘happy’ from Soundabout Tracks: Motifs and expresses an emotion through singing or playing such a motif
Shows awareness of another person through the sounds they make and through the impact of own sound-making on someone else
Responds to two or more musical motifs with associated texts such as ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ from Soundabout Tracks: Motifs and expresses two or more emotions through singing or playing such motifs
Shows awareness of another person through the sounds they make or through the impact of own sound-making on someone else
Shows awareness of two or more other people through the sounds they make and through the impact of own sound-making on two or more other people
Develops an understanding of another person’s thoughts and feelings through copying their sounds or an awareness that another person understands and empathises with self by copying sounds made by self
Develops an understanding of another person’s thoughts and feelings through copying their sounds and an awareness that another person understands and empathises with self by copying sounds made by self
Develops an understanding of at least two other peoplen’s thoughts and feelings through copying their sounds and an awareness that at least two other people understand and empathise with self by copying sounds made by self
Is aware that a distinctive fragment of music (a ‘motif’) with an associated text can be used to identify people and convey their thoughts and feelings or uses a musical motif (eg from Soundabout Tracks: Motifs ) to communicate with others
Is aware that a distinctive fragment of music (a ‘motif’) with an associated text can be used to identify people and convey their thoughts and feelings and uses a musical motif (eg from Soundabout Tracks: Motifs ) to communicate with others
Is aware that two or more distinctive fragments of music (‘motifs’) with associated texts can be used to identify people and convey their thoughts and feelings and uses two or more musical motifs (eg from Soundabout Tracks: Motifs ) to communicate with others
Develops further awareness of the environment through the sounds that an object can make and through the sounds that can be caused by interacting with an object (eg by hitting or shaking it)
Starts to become aware of the environment through the sounds that an object can make or through the sounds that can be caused by interacting with an object (eg by hitting or shaking it)
Develops still further awareness of the environment through the sounds that two or more objects can make and through the sounds that can be caused by interacting with two or more objects (eg by hitting or shaking them)
Becomes aware of the similarities in objects through the similar sounds that they make (helping form a single category or concept) or grasps how one type of regular change in sound can relate to regularity in the environment (such as a sound-making object appearing to be louder the nearer it gets), either through observation or proactive engagement
Becomes aware of the similarities in objects through the similar sounds that they make (helping form a single category or concept) and grasps how one type of regular change in sound can relate to regularity in the environment (such as a sound-making object appearing to be louder the nearer it gets), either through observation or proactive engagement
Becomes aware of the similarities in objects through the similar sounds that they make (helping form a single category or concept) and grasps how one type of regular change in sound can relate to regularity in the environment (such as a sound-making object appearing to be louder the nearer it gets), either through observation and proactive engagement
Is aware that a distinctive fragment of music (a ‘motif’) with an associated text can be used to convey information about the world around, such as ‘What is it?’ in Soundabout Tracks: Motifs or uses such a motif to communicate own understanding of the world
Is aware that a distinctive fragment of music (a ‘motif’) with an associated text can be used to convey information about the world around, such as ‘What is it?’ in Soundabout Tracks: Motifs and uses such a motif to communicate own understanding of the world
Is aware that at least two distinctive fragments of music (‘motifs’) with associated texts can be used to convey information about the world around, such as ‘What is it?’ in Soundabout Tracks: Motifs and uses at least two such motifs to communicate own understanding of the world
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