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Description
According to the website rynekzdrowia.pl, in 2015 there were 1.8 million people in Poland with vision impairment, and this number is increasing. When talking to musicians with visual impairment, and their families and teachers, we were told that sighted people are afraid to teach and employ people with visual impairment, and blind/visually impaired people and their carers are convinced that they cannot be given music lessons. There are no teaching aids that help with the process of learning to play an instrument for people with visual impairment. There is practically no sheet music in braille for a basic teaching level. We want to break down barriers stopping the teaching of music, promote music among people with visual impairment, and make them fully-fledged members of the music community. We will produce and make available to music schools and culture centers that employ music teachers 30 lectures and workshops (tyflopedagogy, braille notation, music psychology, and blind teachers’ proprietary projects) and use them to provide training for which a certificate is earned. We will organize training on braille music and meetings with blind musicians and students. We will regularly provide people with visual impairment with podcasts, and invite them to do music quizzes. We are also planning a public campaign to change the way people with vision impairment are perceived and to support teaching of music with no obstacles. In the project, we will provide training for 100 music teachers to work with children and young people with visual impairment, and activate the blind music community and people close to them (200 people). People with vision impairment and teachers at music schools and cultural centers from all over Poland will take part in the project. The partners, the Chance for the Blind Foundation and Edward Kowalik Music Association will assist us in reaching people with vision impairment and in producing and testing materials.
Summary of project results
The project addresses the problem of barriers to access to music education for visually impaired people. There are approximately 1.8 million visually impaired people in Poland (rynekzdrowia.pl, 2015). People who are not visually impaired are not able to teach or employ visually impaired people or have concerns about doing so, while visually impaired people and their carers lack knowledge about accessible music education for visually impaired people. There is still a lack of sheet music in Braille and a lack of teaching aids to support the process of learning to play an instrument for visually impaired people. There are no full-time or post-graduate courses focusing on music education for visually impaired people. Much is changing in Poland in the area of accessibility - in 2019, the Law on Ensuring Accessibility for Persons with Special Needs and the Law on Digital Accessibility of Websites and Mobile Applications of Public Entities will come into force. However, there is a lack of specific measures for music education.
The project has produced a lot of material on music education for blind people - podcasts, music quizzes, films about blind musicians. A training course for instrumental teachers was developed, including special videos with lectures and workshops (including training in the basics of tiflopaedagogy, Braille notation, the psychology of musicians and original projects for blind teachers). More than 30 videos were recorded documenting the expertise and musical journeys of blind people. The materials were made available online and sent to music schools. Five forums were also organised - in Szczecin, Poznań, Gostyń, Jarosławki and Wrocław - some of which were factual and educational and others of an inclusive nature. Each forum was accompanied by a concert performed by visually impaired people. A total of 68 people took part in the forums, including musicians, animators and teachers with visual impairments.
The project galvanised the music community and began the long process of opening up music education to children, young people and blind and partially sighted adults. The project was primarily aimed at music school teachers, the vast majority of whom had no previous professional experience with blind people. The materials developed as part of the project constitute a unique resource of knowledge and tools for conducting music education for visually impaired people in Poland.