Inclusion in the Music Classroom 1

Inclusion in the Music Classroom

Jensen Gonzalves

James Madison University

Inclusion in the Music Classroom 2

Abstract

This paper explores the reason why students with a disability should be included in a

music classroom and why it can socially help these students. The articles used will help support

the idea that these inclusions do not only help the student with disabilities but also the teacher

and the students without a disability. Most of the articles talk about the teacher’s point of view of

the teachers and how they believe that they are a very important part in the success of the

students with a disability. Within the paper there will also be a time when Arizona will be

mentioned for their important work in 1994 with their statewide inclusion of students with

disabilities and the benefits that they saw within their students.

Keywords: Inclusion, Mainstreaming, Disability

Inclusion in the Music Classroom 3

Inclusion in the Music Classroom

In America 6.8% of all students with a disability who are enrolled in a public school are

enrolled in music classes (Hoffman, 2001). This statistic might not be alarming for most people

to read because they might not have the understanding of why it is important for a student with

disabilities to be in a music classroom and how it benefits not only the student mentally but also

on a social level outside of the classroom. Many people look at students who have disabilities as

being unable to do something or having limitations within what they are learning, but for many

of these students these music classroom inclusions might push them past their disabilities and

help them in more ways than one. A disability is defined on merriam-webster.com as a physical,

mental, cognitive, or developmental condition that impairs, interferes with, or limits a person’s

ability to engage in certain tasks or actions or participate in typical daily activities and

interactions. A public-school education might classify a student with having a disability if they

have an IEP or a 504 plan, in order for the student to succeed within the classroom. Since this

definition is broad many students can and will fall under the category as having a disability and

might be pushed away from being in a music classroom because their parents or themselves feel

like they will not be successful in the classroom. But does inclusion within a music classroom

actually help a student with disabilities socially outside of the classroom?

Literature Review

“Before 1975, most students with disabilities were educated primarily in separate schools

or classrooms (Adamer, 2001).” Now that inclusion is becoming the best way for students with

disabilities to get a public-school education there also needs to be more inclusion within the

music classroom. As defined on merriam-webster.com inclusion is the act or practice of

including students with disabilities in regular classrooms. Many people feel like inclusion in a
Inclusion in the Music Classroom 4

music classroom is too hard and it will not benefit the student with disabilities, the teacher, or the

other students within the classroom itself but what many people do not understand is that even if

it is hard to have full inclusion in a music classroom the benefits are far greater than the extra

time or work that might have to be involved in creating a space for that particular student.

First, many people feel like it will not benefit the music teacher because of all the extra

time and materials that it will take to make a full spot for the student and making sure that they

are just as included in the classroom as any other student would feel. Even though it might be

hard on the teacher and more work on the teacher most research has shown that teachers want to

be able to have a spot for every child that wants to be in the music classroom. In the article

Talking with Music Teachers about Inclusion: Perceptions, Opinions and Experiences by Laurie

P. Scott a teacher told a tale about how one of her students with a disability was able to play his

clarinet a couple of levels higher than his classmates, “this is the only area where he is able to

function this way and I feel that is very positive for him and the children reset that ability in him

(Scott, 2007).” Within that same article another teacher would go on to talk about her uneasiness

in having a student perform in their concert because the student would have a way of getting

scared and freaking out in ways that many students were not able to understand. She later came

to find out that she had no reason to worry about that particular student because he was able to

perform that concert without any freak outs and he was able to play his instrument to the best of

his ability. Overall, many people might feel like inclusion in a music classroom is hard on the

teachers because of the extra time and work that goes into making sure that all students are

equally involved in the classroom, but as proven many teachers do not mind the extra work load

and they rather have the student in the classroom because they feel like every student with or

without a disability should have the opportunity to create music that they want to do. As stated in
Inclusion in the Music Classroom 5

Special Leaners: Teaching Special Learners- Ideas from Veteran Teachers in the Music

Classroom by Elizabeth Pontiff the only way that they seemed to have a negative result from

having a student with a disability in their classroom was if the teacher did not plan accordingly to

what they needed to in order for there to be a successful learning opportunity for all students

involved.

Another misconception about inclusion in the music classroom is how the other students

are going to react to their music classroom having students who might have disabilities within

the class. This is a common issue that many people are faced with because of how mean children

can be with the words that they are able to say behind a computer screen. They are especially

mean with the labels and stereotypes that they can put on students who have disabilities. The

main reason that students are so eager to put labels on those students with disabilities is because

they think of the stereotypes that students with disabilities sometimes have, like they are stupid

or retarded because of their handicap. This shows that parents and teachers need to be showing

their students that stereotypes are not appropriate for anyone and how students who might have a

disability are more likely to be just like the other students except they might be a little slower

getting the information then the rest of the class. “One of the primary goals of mainstreaming is

the development of positive social relationships between handicap and non-handicapped children

(Cassidy, 1991).” In the article Effects of Special Education Labels on Peers’ and Adults’

Evaluations of a Handicapped Youth Choir by Jane W. Cassidy she states that if students are

taught from an early age that stereotyping or putting labels on students with disabilities is

inappropriate then they might be able to create these social bonds with students who might have

disabilities and make a safer environment within the music classroom for those students. The
Inclusion in the Music Classroom 6

music classroom environment would also be able to be inclusive to all students and helping the

students without a disability to become humbler and rounded as people.

Overall many people feel like complete inclusion into a music classroom is hard on the

student with the disability because they can easily get frustrated and give up because of how hard

it will be to be in a classroom setting like that. But many people fail to look at how beneficial it

could be to a student who really wants to be playing an instrument or singing in a choir or doing

whatever else that they want to do within their school system. As stated previously many

teachers and students have found the positives within inclusion to help them grow into humble

people or to increase the popularity of their music program. Many do not see how socially it can

help a student with disabilities outside of the music classroom. This is the case because when a

student who has disabilities is in a music classroom they are able to form relationships with

people that they never thought that they would by using music as an introduction for

relationships. A music classroom is not like a traditional classroom where students sit at desks

for the whole class time and take notes or work on stuff they have learned. In a music classroom

students have to work together to get better at the pieces that they are playing/singing or they

collaborate on writing assignments. Given that students with disabilities might have an aid with

them to help them in their general education classrooms the aid might not be helpful in the music

classroom so the students might need to rely on other students in the class to help understand

where a pitch is that they are trying to sing or understand a fingering on their instrument. Since a

student with disabilities is relying on these students they are required to talk to other students that

they might never have had a reason to talk to them before the music classroom. These

interactions could lead to bigger relationships that occur outside of the music classroom helping
Inclusion in the Music Classroom 7

the students with disabilities on a more social level than any inclusion in any other classroom

could do.

In 1994 Arizona decided to mainstream the whole state into having full inclusion with the

music classrooms and what they found out was very surprising and interesting to read about

since this was the first case of full inclusion within the music setting. Many statistics were used

in order to show how there was not much inclusion going on within the population of Arizona in

the music classrooms, which was interesting to see since this study occurred almost two decades

after the passing of The Education for Handicap Children Act of 1975. Throughout this study

teachers were asked if they were having a positive response from the students and if they were

they were asked five questions. Those five questions were; what is the nature and extent of

mainstreaming in Arizona’s music classrooms, what reasons do music educators cite for special

learners being mainstreamed into their regular music classrooms, what educational objectives do

music educators hope to achieve with special leaners, which indicators do music educators use to

identify perceived successful mainstreaming, including perceived personal success, and which

variables predict perceived success in mainstreaming? What seemed to be the most shocking was

the responses to the question about what reasons music educators have for students to be

mainstreamed into the music classroom because many teachers where stating that they had no

say if a student would be mainstreamed into the classroom or what the benefits where to the

student to be mainstreamed into the classroom. “Seventy-two percent of the respondents “rarely”

or “never” participated in the placement process, and only 6% believe they have more influence

than special education staff members, administrators, and others on the placement of special

learners in music classrooms (Frisque, 2004).” This is an alarming percentage of music educators
Inclusion in the Music Classroom 8

who feel like they have no say in why the student with disabilities can benefit from being

mainstreamed into the music classroom especially on their social interactions.

Discussion

Throughout the years this topic of how inclusion in a music classroom can socially help

students with disabilities has been studied and most of the research has been changed because of

the changes in the different acts that have been passed in support of mainstreaming students with

disabilities. Many studies prove that the experience that teachers experience from this inclusion

is completely variable to their education but it also shows how important it is for students

without disabilities to make these connections and realize how bad it is to stereotype and label

students with disabilities. By showing students without disabilities how important these

relationships are then they will be able to value the relationships that the build and see every

student for who they are and not what label is placed on them from society. But most importantly

the students who have a disability are the ones that benefit greatly from the inclusion within the

music classroom especially on a social level. Students will really build relationships within the

music classrooms that no other general education class will be able to provide for them.

Music educators should also be encouraged to take the extra time and fight for getting

students with disabilities into their classrooms because of all the benefits that they will come

from it. Before teachers take on the responsibility of having these students in their classes they

should be prepared to have to plan for more and plan further in advance since they might have to

be working with the student’s special needs aid that could also be in the classroom. Since there

would be more than one person involved in the classroom the music teacher should also take the

extra time to meet with the student’s teachers and figure out exactly what that student will need

while they are in the classroom. A teacher should also be prepared to wind down the lesson a lot
Inclusion in the Music Classroom 9

for some of these students and they should also be able to wind up the lesson for students who

might find that they are really good at music and maybe better than their peers. Music teachers

getting involved is the first step for more students with disabilities to get involved in the music

classroom.

Another way that students with a disability might get more involved within the music

classroom is if the parents and administration are able to see how much it socially helps their

student in building positive relationships that can also transfer to outside of the music classroom.

In order for them to see how it can positively benefit the student a music teacher should

encourage the student to be in the music classroom that they want to be in and then once those

relationships are built the teacher should invite the administration and the student’s parents in to

see all the positive attributes that that student is having in the classroom. If administration is able

to see how well inclusion in the music classroom positively effects the students with disabilities

then they will be more willing to have those students in the music programs and feel good about

possibly pushing that student passed their comfort zone. There are many ways that inclusion can

happen within the music classroom and if the music teacher and the school board took the time

to notice how important it is for those students then they could encourage parents to put their

students with disabilities in the classroom as well.

There will be students with severe disabilities where inclusion in the music classroom is

not the solution that they are looking for but no one could completely know what students that

might be without first putting them in the classroom. Further research would be needed in order

to see if there was a correlation with the positive outcome of the inclusion based on what

disability that the student might have. A student who is paralyzed and in a wheel chair might not

be able to be in a band classroom but they sure will be able to sing in the choir if they so wanted
Inclusion in the Music Classroom 10

to. Overall, further research needs to be done to see if there has been a study on whether or not

the type of disability had a reason to do with the outcome (a negative or positive outcome) with

complete inclusion in the classroom.

Conclusion

If teachers are able to put in the work and the students without a disability get a positive

outcome from inclusion than it could be even more beneficial to the students with a disability

because they are able to do something that they love but they might never have thought that they

ever would have been able to do before. Also, it could help their social skills outside of the

classroom because of the relationships that they build within the music classroom. Finally,

inclusion in the music classroom has been a hot topic in America for the past decade and it

would be awesome if within the next decade public schools across America will be more

inclusive in the music classroom and get the percentage of students with a disability in a music

classroom from 6.8% to 95%.

Inclusion in the Music Classroom 11

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Inclusion in the Music Classroom 12

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