Melbourne Youth Orchestras: Making music education accessible for students with disability

 

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The Adaptive Music Bridging Program is making music education more accessible to students with disability. The program is a partnership between the University of Melbourne and Melbourne Youth Orchestras.

Key points

  • Young musicians with disability are often excluded from mainstream music education
  • The Adaptive Music Bridging Program provides instrumental music education to students with disability and a pathway to join mainstream music education at Melbourne Youth Orchestras
  • The program includes professional development for music teachers to better include students with disability
  • The Adaptive Music Bridging Program is a partnership between the University of Melbourne and Melbourne Youth Orchestras
  • Melbourne Youth Orchestras and the University of Melbourne have been educational partners for over 30 years, co-located at the University’s Southbank campus.
A young girl who is visibly disabled plays a percussion instrument on stage during a performance
Image: Nic Tsourlenes

The outcome

Over the past three years, the Adaptive Music Bridging Program has enabled access to a music education to 16 students who have disability, chronic illness, mental health condition or are Deaf or neurodiverse. One student has transitioned from the program to mainstream music education at Melbourne Youth Orchestras. All participants perform with students in the mainstream Melbourne Youth Orchestras program end of year concert.

The researchers have also created a professional development program to help music teachers include children with disability in their classes. The project has received funding from the Australian Research Council for another three years.

The need

Growing up as a budding musician with disability, Dr Anthea Skinner “loved band,” she says. “But I was always the only obviously disabled kid in any band I played with.”

For young musicians with disability, playing in school bands can be a challenging, even alienating experience. Instruments often need to be adapted to suit different physical playing styles, and conditions such as ADHD can mean students are seen as disruptive by their teachers.

Compounding the problem, many teachers don’t know how best to teach musicians who have disability. “They often really want to help, but they’re just like – ‘we don’t know what to do’, ” Dr Skinner says.

To help address these issues, Dr Skinner partnered with Melbourne Youth Orchestras on the Adaptive Music Bridging Program, which brings together students with disability, ranging from 8-to-14-years-old, for weekly band practice.

It’s based on the idea that every child has a right to an instrumental music education. Dr Anthea Skinner, University of Melbourne

“This ensemble is in some ways what I would have liked to have been there when I was a kid.”

Three young boys wearing collared white shirts concentrate on playing percussion instruments as part of a performance. Two are in wheelchairs
Image: Nic Tsourlenes

The research

The project started with an investigation into how to make the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music more accessible. Dr Skinner realised that the problem was not so much students with disability missing out on opportunities at university – although she says the Conservatorium is “not perfect” – but rather barriers at a much earlier age.

That’s because most musicians without disability coming to the university will first start learning an instrument when they are 8-to-12-years-old.

“They hadn’t been able to access those lessons and skills at that age, which meant they couldn’t then have a chance to audition down the track for university,” Dr Skinner says.

“Weirdly, a research program revolving around making the university more accessible actually made us realise that no, we need to work with 12-year-olds to make that happen.”

For most kids in the program, the barriers are not so much physical as attitudinal, she says, including sometimes misguided teacher attitudes. “There’s this idea that some kids can partake in music and deserve a music education, and others do not.”

Hence the development of a specialist training program for music teachers to help them include students with disability, which is separate to the weekly band practice.

Developing the solution

Partnering with Melbourne Youth Orchestras (MYO) on the Adaptive Music Bridging Program made sense. MYO and University of Melbourne are educational partners and the MYO has been based at the University of Melbourne’s Southbank campus for over 50 years.

“They’re literally on the other side of our wall, and they already have a strong culture of inclusivity and outreach,” Dr Skinner says. “They have done a lot of work looking to make music instrument education more accessible. They’re also the largest non-governmental instrumental music provider in the state – we knew they would help us have an impact.”

MYO chief executive Dorian Jones says it’s important to MYO that it’s inclusive and open to all young musicians, regardless of barriers. “We want to see the Adaptive Music Bridging Program embedded in our ensemble music program and really ensure that it becomes an entrenched part of our community.”

That means participants in the program share concert stages with other MYO musicians, rehearsing at the same time.

What I like about the program is it’s not a band-aid solution. It’s systemic, and creates a really sustainable model which directly supports young people. Dorian Jones, Melbourne Youth Orchestras
Three young boys in collared white shirts play drums on a stage, accompanied by an adult. Two of the boys are in wheelchairs
Image: Nic Tsourlenes

The partnership gives the MYO access to staff and learning resources and helps MYO have a “clear map” for how students can progress, Jones says. “We collaborate on learning pathways both into MYO and then from MYO into the University, and there are many logistical and operational areas where the partnership is beneficial.”

The partnership also gives Adaptive Music Bridging Program participants a place they can graduate into if that’s what they want to pursue, Dr Skinner says.

A young Asian girl is excited to hold a silver tuba in her lap while a smiling educator guides her
Image: Joanna Ostaff

“It’s about creating pathways – whether that’s into Melbourne Youth Orchestras, or music therapists who kids can keep playing with.”

A student has already graduated into the MYO’s broader ensemble music program. But Dr Skinner says everybody benefits from simply being taught by musicians with disability. She recalls one interaction between a student and Dr Melinda Smith OAM, an honorary fellow and dance artist who has cerebral palsy and is non verbal.

“It was just life-changing for this kid, who has a similar level of disability to Mel. She’s just learning to communicate, and I overheard her and her mother talking about what her future PhD topic should be! Just surrounding our disabled kids with disabled adults has so many positive impacts.”

Partners

Melbourne Youth Orchestras

Funding support

University of Melbourne McKenzie Fellowship

Australian Research Council Early Career Industry Fellowship

City of Melbourne

Creative Australia

First published on 28 November 2024.

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