MUSICAR – Musical practice for blind, low vision and deaf people

MUSICAR project (which means MUSICKING in English) aims to provide access to music for blind and deaf individuals through the creation of theoretical classes and ensemble music practice at Metropolitana – an institution that promotes musical training at the various levels of education (primary, secondary and higher). It aims as well to the training of its musicians, teachers and undergraduate students for teaching music to these communities, which will make it possible to disseminate the practices developed in this project and to look for its future adoption in a broader scope.

Metropolitana proposes to implement best practices, methodologies, curriculum content and recommendations, and materials and equipment of proven use for the musical practice of people with visual and hearing disabilities, through training courses with mentors from two previous projects: Filarmónica Enarmonia (a wind orchestra for blind, low vision, and individuals without visual impairment) and Mãos que Cantam (a choir of deaf teachers, which performs vocal works in sign Portuguese Language).

Notwithstanding the extent and applicability of the musical teaching methods developed in these projects, their scope does not cover all orchestral instruments. So, this initiative also proposes to prospect and create methodologies for the learning of other string instruments by students with visual impairment, whose usefulness will also be validated by institutions for blindness, special education teachers, and psychologists. Furthermore, the effectiveness of teaching percussion instruments to the hearing-impaired community will also be assessed.

After the first training phase of the teachers and undergraduates of Metropolitana, which took place in the first four months, activities began with these communities. Partner entities and specialized schools for the blind and deaf sent students – children, youth, and adults – to attend classes, rehearsals, and a final concert.

In the following three months, before the summer holidays, music theory classes and instrument experimentation workshops were held, which will allow students to have a weekly experience with music and teachers to exercise the learning acquired in the training courses.

At the beginning of the following academic year, blind and deaf students joined a percussion class and a participatory choir, where they were able to apply their improved musical training and, above all, to use, with an artistic sense, their means of reading and conversation – Braille and Portuguese sign language.

In a final concert, Metropolitana offered the stage to these groups, as well as to visually impaired instrumentalists and conductors who have achieved success in their musical careers. Thus, in this inclusive concert, Metropolitana also sought to sensitize the general public to respect and admire those with visual and hearing impairments and to understand the urgency of democratic access to the arts for all communities.

Shortly after the concert, the resulting extensive manual of best practices and methodologies for teaching music to the blind and deaf will be integrated into the Metropolitan curriculum and will be available to other institutes. A documentary illustrating the various stages of the project will also be published online. Both contents will, we hope, serve as useful tools for replicating the initiative in subsequent years and for its implementation in other artistic institutes.