What We've Been Doing...

NYSMTA District 6 members met to enjoy a presentation by Beth McLaughlin of The Music Studio. Beth is a certified music therapist as well as a NYS certified music teacher; she spent much of her career at Wildwood, a school for students with neurological impairments. Now she teaches small music classes and individual piano lessons to students with special needs at The Music Studio. Beth discussed some of the challenges in "adapted instruction," as well as its goals: fostering a love of music, recognizing and supporting each child's unique music abilities and style of learning, preparing them to be consumers of the arts, giving them access to community based programs and music experiences, and expanding their lifelong leisure skill opportunities. She described the many different needs of the students--emotional, structural, environmental, musical--and the materials and planning required to support them. Beth's talk was instructive and inspiring, not least because of her own obvious dedication to each student as an individual, and the enormous effort she puts into her teaching--before, during, and after.