Self-directed Study Sheet 1

Assign these descriptions to Sounds of Intent levels and domains:

  1. Valerie, who has profound and multiple learning difficulties, has a good deal of involuntary movement in her arms, and her music therapist has tried to give her a sense of cause and effect by using an ultrasonic beam, which she links to a variety of electronic sounds. To date, Valerie has shown no signs of awareness that she is controlling the sounds, however.

  2. Noriko, who has severe learning difficulties, loves the little runs on the panpipes in Pagageno’s Birdcatcher’s song from The Magic Flute.

  3. Osman, who is on the autism spectrum, enjoys singing the bassline in his school choir, which performs to a very high standard, and he has memorised around 50 pieces that they have sung in public concerts and competitions over the last few years.

  4. Tabitha can’t speak, but she can hum short phrases to communicate her preference for certain activities.

  5. Penny, who has severe developmental delay, likes tapping a regular beat on anything that will make a sound.

  6. Rachel, with moderate learning difficulties, enjoys ‘give and take’ sessions with her piano teacher using two keyboards. She can copy the short rhythms that her teacher makes up and gets most of the pitches right too.

  7. Wallace, who is on the autism spectrum, can make up short, simple songs that have a distinct ‘beginning’, ‘middle’ and ‘end’.

  8. Gabriel, who has profound and multiple learning difficulties, does not appear to relate to others’ sound-making.

  9. Udo, who has profound and multiple learning disabilities, is fascinated with the sound of the digeridoo.

  10. Zeeshan, who is on the autism spectrum and has severe learning difficulties, is fascinated with the ring tones that different mobile phones make.

  11. Sabina, who is blind and on the autism spectrum, has been DJing for many years, and she has a regular spot at her local night club, where she has built up quite a following.

  12. Lucy, who has a profound hearing loss and severe learning difficulties, enjoys playing ‘copy games’ on the bass drum with her learning support assistant – particularly loud bangs and soft ones – which she detects by keeping one hand gently on the drum.

  13. Lucas, who has profound and multiple learning difficulties, loves exploring the sounds he can make by scratching on the tray of his wheelchair.

  14. Marco, who is on the autism spectrum, looks forward to going to music festivals to hear indie bands – his favourite if Florence and the Machine, and he knows all their songs.

  15. Paul, who has moderate learning difficulties, has had keyboard lessons from a few years, and he can now play the chords for some of the ABBA songs that his sister likes to sing with him.

  16. Ariba, who has profound and multiple learning difficulties, does not react when staff in her care home interpret the sounds that she makes when the myoclonic jerks of her left arm operate a Soundbeam.

  17. Nathan, who has profound and multiple learning difficulties, vocalises when his mother sings slowly to him and leaves pauses for him to fill. He doesn’t appear to copy the notes she sings.

  18. Alison, who has severe learning difficulties, enjoys listening to the children’s songs on YouTube and joining in with the actions at the appropriate times.