Children in Leeds Sign Up for More Music Since Attending Workshops

Music and the Deaf’s Modulate project is designed to inspire more deaf children to play musical instruments within their local music education services and schools. We launched this project in January 2018 and so far, we have worked in 6 areas of England. We have reached 146 children face to face and involved them in hands-on music activities using a wide range of musical instruments.

The participants learned how to produce their first sounds on the instruments. They learned how to play as a group and performed in front of the entire school. At the end, we gave out simple surveys to find out how much the children enjoyed the sessions:

78% of the participants gave the workshops the highest possible rating which was ‘great’. 22% said the workshops were ‘good’. 39% said they enjoyed watching Sean, Danny and Jenni performing together. 26% said they enjoyed being able to meet friends with similar experiences. 73% said they wanted to carry on playing music.

Recently, Danny interviewed an instrumental tutor in Birmingham who is working with some of the children who took part in Modulate last year. She said that having the opportunity to work with deaf children for first time was good for her teaching. She learned how to be more visual using gestures and pictures and by being more concise with her instructions. She said that school teachers are often popping in to hear the students play and are always impressed by what they saw. The tutor added that providing instrumental lessons are hugely beneficial for deaf children as well as children with multiple needs. Music supports communication and social skills, turn-taking and copying…”

This month, we will be taking the Modulate project to Sheffield and will be inspiring more children to explore and experiment with music. Despite multiple benefits, music is widely regarded as an inaccessible activity for deaf students. Most of the 120 music education services around England do not have the training or skills to ensure music lessons are inclusive. Music and the Deaf wish to help students overcome barriers that may exist (both real and imagined) and make music inclusive for everyone.

We are looking for funding and donations to take this project to other areas of England from January 2020. If you would like to support this project or would like to find out more please get in touch with Danny Lane, Artistic Director: danny@matd.org.uk / 07988 292218.