Observation In Music Class

This past spring break, I spent a lot of time at Uniontown Area High School. I played piano for their spring musical, so I was there everyday after school in preparation for the upcoming performances. One day I was catching up with my former band director when we eventually got on the topic of classes and assignments, which led to her mentioning that she had been leading the special education class in musical activities a few days out of the week and she invited me to come observe. The very next day I was sitting in the band room once again, but this time with 2 special education teachers and a dozen teenagers with different disabilities. The person that I selected to observe closely for this assignment, who we’ll call Paul, was a 17-year-old boy with Down syndrome. Paul’s appearance seemed pretty typical of those with the disability. He had a very short, thick neck, which was in contrast to the rest of his slender body with short arms and legs. His facial features were kind of flat with narrow eye slits, but he had an undeniably charming smile. One thing that stood out to me that we discussed in class was that he had a single transverse palmer crease. In the first activity of the lesson, each student was given a shaker (which happened to be shaped like bananas) and
Throughout my time in high school I was always aware of the special education class and the students in it, but I never saw them outside of lunch or walking in the halls. I was surprised how with how well the students did with the music activities, and with how much they seemed to genuinely enjoy the experience. This has definitely made me feel much more comfortable with the idea of working with students like Paul in the future. I plan on using the activities I observed in the future, and am glad I got to see the topic of my group project in