High and Low
February 13, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
“This is a high note. Which is lower?” The music teacher asked, gently plucking the A string and the C string of the cello. Charlie reached over and set the instrument back sideways against his shoulder, and pulled at the strings. The music teacher, the aide with the token board, Charlie’s teacher, and I all listened.
Charlie had his first cello lesson today. I’ve been wondering about him learning to play a stringed instrument for awhile, ever since he became fascinated with the sounds and the vibrations of a small guitar that my parents gave him a few years ago. He even insisted on taking the guitar into the car with him. Unfortunately, within a week—-probably had something to do with Charlie kneeling on the guitar to look at the strings as he plucked them—the guitar’s neck had broken off and the same happened, too, to a replacement guitar purchased from Target; I got the sense that, for the time being, string instruments were a bit too delicate. But I still entertained hopes of Charlie learning to play some instrument: Since he was a baby propped up in my lap while I played lullabies from book, or riding high on Jim’s shoulders to the tune of “We love you Charlie, oh yes we do” or the theme song from The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, Charlie has been drawn to music.
Needless to say, I was thrilled when I found Charlie’s piano teacher in July of 2006. Under his instruction, Charlie has learned to play with both hands and—Charlie being a boy who really struggles to read words—-learned to read music. Sadly, Charlie’s teacher is taking a hiatus for a few months and Sunday was Charlie’s last lesson. The piano teacher gave me a folder with several new songs—with high E’s! with slurs! with chords!—and Charlie, with me standing just beside and behind him, has been practicing.
But the piano teacher has left us with something more—Charlie able to play piano (and Jim and I have noted that his interest in music has increased, and his ability to sing back tunes as soon as he hears them) and me with a sense of how to teach Charlie how to play a musical instrument. Possibly, a stringed instrument.
Enter the cello.
Last year I noted an item in Charlie’s school newsletter about a special assembly in which third-graders were given the chance to hear and try out different instruments. I wrote to Charlie’s case manager and asked if Charlie would be attending. Time passed and summer came. I brought up the question of trying out an instrument again at Charlie’s last IEP meeting and this was duly noted. Sometime in the fall it was suggested that I myself contact the music teachers and I’ll confess that it took me till the start of this year—I mean, we were busy practicing piano almost daily, amid the usual everything else—-to write to the music teachers. More weeks passed and then I got an email from the music teacher and then, last week, I went in to speak to her, to set up a time for a lesson, and to find out from whom I could rent a cello.
And so today, at 1pm with snow starting to fall in fairy-like swirls as I headed over the Pulaski Skyway, I went to Charlie’s school for a 2pm lesson. It was very introductory: The music teacher has no background teaching special ed kids and, among our school district’s autism program, I suspect Charlie is the first student to be learning to play the cello. The teacher had him sit and showed him the instrument, which Charlie reached and, turning the side with the strings towards him, started plucking. She showed him the bow and Charlie looked at it dubiously from under his eyebrows: “No.” And back to plucking; I had thought he would like the mellow, the low, sound of the strings and the feel of the wood vibrating. The teacher asked him about the high and low sounds; after a bit, I noted that he might not be too sure about what those words mean—-not that he does not know high sounds from low (Charlie lets me know when my voice rises to a certain pitch).
Charlie’s teacher and the aide both noted that they have not played an instrument. Charlie went back to his classroom with a serious “bye Mom” and I explained the music teacher about how, over nearly two years, we had taught Charlie to play piano. I am bringing in Charlie’s piano books to show her and we talked about how Charlie could be taught to do basic skills one by one: holding the cello correctly; holding the bow correctly; moving the bow back and forth like a windshield wiper and in circles; playing pizzicato; using the bow on the strings. The music teacher loaned me a music book and I am planning to xerox and enlarge and simplify some of the pages, and I’m brainstorming how to teach Charlie that placing a finger on a certain part of the A string is how you play a B: Charlie has learned to read treble clef and bass clef on the piano by matching the letter names on the notes to letters on the keys of the piano, but teaching him the fingering on a cello is going to take some ingenuity.
Most of all, I talked about how much joy, delight, and pleasure Charlie takes in playing the piano (and in his lessons) and in music, which seems to focus and soothe him. My biggest hope is that he might enjoy making sounds with a new instrument; making more music.
There was some discussion yesterday about bring “high” or “low” or “middle” “functioning.” Charlie’s experience learning to play piano and now cello (noting that today was only lesson #1 and who knows what will happen) lead me to wonder about and question these terms even more. Based on his communicative and cognitive abilities, and his history of aggressive and self-injurious behaviors, I’m not sure that some would call Charlie “high”; some things that Charlie has done have led people to say he is not only “low” but “severe.”
And here I am requesting that cello lessons be written into his IEP.
Yes, today was a high moment in Charlie’s education, and in my own.
Photo courtesy of annettile via Flickr
Music … my drug of choice. Way to go Charlie! Here’s to many more highs and lows.
I think that diversifying the amount of instruments that Charlie plays will be good for him. I also think that you’re wise in watching closely in the beginning stages of cello lessons, as the teacher’s teaching method in this situation has to take into account your insightful advice.
I say it’s definitely good to try. *However* – string instruments are Not the easiest ones to play, especially not for our kids. It has more to do with multi-tasking than anything. You have to not only think about your fingers and the music, you have to think about the pitch, you have to think about holding the thing, you have to think about bowing, etc. That’s what’s so hard. Pianos sit there, kids don’t have to tune them, etc.
Not only that, you have to have someone who is good at playing the instrument, because if they have a lousy tone quality, your kid will, too. Because they will imitate what they hear. Trust me, I know this from experience.
Sometimes a transition from piano to an orchestra/band instrument is harder, sometimes the reverse. Sometimes brass instruments work better. But you can’t tell until you try.
Trumpet works well for Bug. We started by teaching him to breathe and produce a tone, then taught him some fingerings. After that we taught him how to read music. That is how the teacher should approach cello, too. It’s Suzuki, basically, with a twist. Concentrate on the bowing first, so that when he goes to use his fingers, then he won’t have to think about how he has to hold the bow. Then after those are more second-nature, you go on to reading music.
Kind of like eating one food on your plate at a time.
BUT, Bug has issues thinking about the notes on trumpet and the notes on piano as being the same notes, lol.
Has he ever seen a cello being played? Do you have any videos? There are videos of Yo Yo Ma, Jacqueline duPre, Rostropovich. One video about music that I particularly like is the House of Magical Sounds. It’s a video of art used as animation, based on Claudio Abbado’s book about his life. Really, Really neat.
Oh, also, look into the Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. And then cross your fingers he doesn’t want the drums, lol…..
All kids in our district get violin in 4th grade-I made sure my daughter was included. She chose viola this year, and asked to have more orchestra next year. She won’t be a concert performer, but she can read music and apreciates classical music. I think it is worth the effort to give Charlie music lessons.
i tell you, i would pause in my first lesson on a cello! after the piano? it’s so different! the shape, the sounds, the way one finds the notes. i think you’ll know so much more as charlie accustoms to this new and wonderful instrument. i LOVE that you’ve written it in the IEP. charlie has always been so affected by music!
One reason I thought we’d start with cello is because I know how to play a string instrument, viola. Other reasons are based on some things I’ve observed about Charlie: He’s still somewhat hypotonic and he doesn’t have to hold the cello up (as he would a trumpet or violin). Also, he’s never been one for blowing—bubbles, whistles (in speech therapy) and it seemed more natural for him to play an instrument involving his fingers. The sound of the cello seems that it would appeal to him, based on his seeming preference for certain kinds of music, and the vibrations and the wood appeal to some sensory needs.
Just rented an instrument for 4 months.
My son (10) also plays trumpet. My husband is a music teacher and he thought, all things considered, that the trumpet would be the easiest intrument for a kid with fine motor problems. He mostly needs help staying on task and organizing himself.
Artie (husband) does have a HFA kid in his school orchestra program playing the cello. He is doing okay with alot of help at home except for reading music. He really can’t get over that hurdle. Luckily he has an older sister who also plays the cello, and she can play pieces for him until he can copy them. It’s really great that Charlie’s school can offer one-on-one instruction.
Maybe you could teach Charlie finger placement using color. You could make the B notes blue and then wrap a small piece of blue painters tape around the corresponding part of the A string and do the same with different colors for other notes that might be confusing. I’m not familiar enough with the cello (or Charlie) to know if it would work but it’s a thought.
Go with your gut sense and this could turn out really well. I am somewhere on the “spectrum” and was an odd kid (back in the day when Asperger’s or Autism wasn’t an option).
As an indifferent student without any explicit interest in music, I was given a few music tests in 3rd grade (along with everyone else). My scores were very high and the decision was that I would play violin.
They quickly figured out I had perfect pitch, and could tune my violin and our smallish orchestra by ear. I was first violin through high school. I could not (nor never) figured out how to read music. I am not quite sure how I learned the music (I never practiced at home either) but I do recall being able to feel and see it in my head. Despite being among the best musicians, I was continually hassled about failing music reading quizzes (which were part of our grades) and not practicing.
I really liked music and would have probably done much more if there was less racket about playing by the rules.
In any case: watch what Charlie taps into and what he is good (or even great) at. Hopefully you will get some great surprises.
@AR,
I had been thinking of using color for finger placement! Thanks for that suggestion.
I’m glad to go through a number of instruments till Charlie finds one he likes, or doesn’t. As for drums: Jim used to play them and we still have a conga drum……..(can’t play it too much at the moment, as we’re in a rented condo with neighbors sensitive to noise).
Kristina, do you have a studio or Arts academy in the area that offers Suzuki method? My son was very successful learning through Suzuki, and he is blind and has Asperger’s. Suzuki is very child centered and focuses on mastering one skill at a time.
Patrick is very interested in the fiddle. We travel to PEI every year and he’s captivated. But now that you describe the Cello….well let’s just say I think stringed instruments of some kind are in our future.
I think it’s a fabulous idea for Charlie to learn to play the Cello.
GOOD FOR CHARLIE! WOW…you are an amazing mom, Kristina!
Ya know, in the end, it really does end up being the family who picks up all of the pieces for our children. It is really a wise decision to select an instrument that you feel comfortable and familiar with.
In school, some paraeducators/personal assistants can help, at first. But, once the music gets at a certain level, that type of personal engagement with a school staff member gets more and more difficult find. If I didn’t know how to play the keyboard, Nick could not have moved on with his xylophone at school. I had help him learn all of his marching band music, then he could go to the school with is one on one who really only needed to support his behavior on the field. (Fortunately, this year, he had someone who was a musician for marching band.)
I’ve observed a few things along Nicholas’ musical journey:
1. For the marimba, if I play it often, he tends to come around and “flirt” with it more. He internalizes the sounds, without any imperatives for him to play. After he comes down the stairs from his bedroom to watch, and within minutes, he is talking the mallets from me and playing himself.
2. When Nicholas was learning to play the guitar, it helped to have his instructor with the same instrument sitting across from him. I was concerned that it might be better to sit side by side (since it would be opposite, sitting across from him), but it didn’t end up being the case. It also helped for Nicholas to hear what the scales on each of the strings and across the neck sounded like. Once he watched, played, and eventually understood the intervals, it was easier for him to have fun with his instrument, with or without sheet music.
3. Mid-range (in pitch) instruments are more attractive to Nick. I think that he would have enjoyed the cello, since the notes wouldn’t sound as high for him. Therefore, he wouldn’t be worrying about filtering out bothersome piteches. He could just enjoy and play.
4. I started with 5 minutes on, 5 minutes play. Then, 10 minute son, 10 minutes play, etc. Now, he can play until the end of each of his lessons.
5. Having the right private teacher (none of Nick’s had a kid like him before) is the key. They have to be nice and find a “rhythm” of study with Nick. The good ones always do. My goal is to find a teacher who will be able to give Nick a private lesson when I’m not there. I travel, and sometimes I can’t be there.
6. I take a private lesson, now and then, on the same instrument that Nick plays so that I can stay a little bit ahead of him. Also, I think that there is something to be said about having a day, here and there, that Nick sits back and watches the big picture at the lessons. It doesn’t look like he is watching, but he is. I can tell when we get home.
Kristina, I enjoy the comments that you and everyone on this list have made.
Have a great weekend.
Warmly,
Shari Krishnan
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I am *very* surprised to hear that you’re going to request cello lessons in Charlie’s IEP. G took viola with the rest of his class in 5th grade and could not read music no matter how hard he tried. Since I can’t help him at home, we asked for extra help and were told TOO BAD; it isn’t academic and it isn’t necessary for him to function so it isn’t gonna happen.
Wishing again I had a few pennies to live in a kinder school district.
My son Patrick plays cello and loves it. This is his fourth year playing the instrument and things really start to sound much better after about the first year.
The lessons are set up; I wanted to have something written into his IEP regarding an aide being present during the lessons, to make sure there is staff coverage. I am brainstorming about teaching Charlie to read the music. He’s done well learning to read treble and bass clefs from a carefully structured ABA approach for the piano; we’ll see about reading bass clef notes in cello.
Great to hear about Patrick and the cello—-thanks for mentioning about G.
Kristina,
Could you please share a little about, ” . . . a carefully structured ABA approach for piano?”
I would really appreciate it. I’d love to hear how you thought this through and worked this out.
Shari
Hi Shari,
We followed the curriculum that Charlie’s piano teacher, Jeff Young, developed. He has made up a book and describes his method briefly here—–I can try to describe it more in another post!