What does a cultural revolution sound like?
EPALE's Thematic Coordinator Markus Palmen made a video reportage on how learners with disabilities can be empowered through inclusive music education.
The Resonaari Special Music Centre in Helsinki, Finland, offers music tuition for people with mental disabilities. The Centre, established in 1995, employs a unique didactic tool: the Figurenotes (watch a short demonstration of the method below). The Figurenotes tool is sold commercially but open access resources exist too.
Figurenotes is a colour- and shape-based notation system that contains the exact same information about pitch and duration as traditional notation does. However Figurenotes enables the music learner to start making music instantly without any prior training or experience. This means that people with severe learning difficulties, otherwise shut out from active musicianship, gain an equal chance to learn music.
‘Learning music brings a sense of order and control into the disabled learner’s life,’ Resonaari’s director Markku Kaikkonen explains.
This sense of control leads into a virtuous circle of learning where the learner becomes a more active agent in their society.
‘We want to bring disabled people from the margins of society to the front through learning. This is our positive cultural revolution,’ Kaikkonen says.
Figurenotes demo
Further reading and contacts Resonaari is a school of music but also a research and development organisation, publishing on special music education and organising courses and complementary education. The Centre also maintains a global network for special music education professionals. The music school is supported by public funds from the City of Helsinki, as well as tuition fees. Project funding and charity are other welcome sources of income for the centre.
Recent open access scientific publications and articles on Resonaari’s work: |
Markus Palmen is a journalist, writer and audiovisual producer, and a freelancer. Since August 2017 he has been EPALE's Thematic Coordinator for Policy. For eight years Markus was the Managing Editor and Editor-in-Chief for the European Lifelong Learning Magazine
