ERIC Number: EJ1047067
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Nov
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0265-0517
EISSN: N/A
Guitars Have Disabilities: Exploring Guitar Adaptations for an Adolescent with Down Syndrome
Bell, Adam Patrick
British Journal of Music Education, v31 n3 p343-357 Nov 2014
The guitar has a high value in cultural capital and we are immersed in a culture in which the guitar is the predominant vehicle of music-making. Given the guitar's mass popularity, it follows that the guitar-learning community is vast and diverse. Subscribing to the social model of disability, I problematise the guitar as being disabled and conducted an instrumental case study using the ethnographic tools of video-based observation, field notes and a semi-structured interview to chronicle the experience of teaching an adolescent with Down syndrome how to play the guitar. Different approaches to enabling the guitar are examined including open-tuning, standard tuning and a modified two-string guitar. Findings discuss the importance of the guitar to the participant as a percussive and rhythmic instrument and additionally as support for singing in the context of jamming.
Descriptors: Musical Instruments, Music Education, Disabilities, Case Studies, Ethnography, Video Technology, Observation, Notetaking, Semi Structured Interviews, Adolescents, Down Syndrome, Teaching Methods, Singing
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A