Unlocking the Power of Outdoor Musical Play for the Visually and Hearing Impaired
To mark Deafblind Awareness Week starting on the 23rd June, Percussion Play is highlighting how outdoor music therapy can benefit those who are Deafblind.
Deafblindness is a combined impairment of sight and hearing that affects over 450,000 people in the UK. While it doesn’t always mean a complete loss of vision or hearing, it can in some cases. The impact of deafblindness varies widely from person to person, for some, it may require only minor adjustments to daily routines. In contrast, others may depend on support from others for communication and mobility.
Percussion Play, the world’s leading designer and manufacturer of outdoor musical instruments, has long been advocating the benefits deafblind individuals can receive through music therapy, supporting clients create outdoor music gardens to be used as therapy for those with sensory impairments.
One such client is a School in Western Pennsylvania who is using outdoor music therapy to enhance the lives of its students- all through sound and vibration. The Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children, which has over 190 students, an adult day program for graduates of the school, as well as a child care center for the employees of the school, has created outdoor music areas for everyone to enjoy with Percussion Play instruments,
A generous donor, Ray Wojszynski, funds a program named the Creative Arts Series, where performers visit the school and introduce music and the arts to students. Mr. Wojszynski has donated a range of outdoor musical instruments to give current and future students something tangible, lasting, and permanent to enjoy.
The instruments chosen by the school and Sue Wiedder, Director of Development and Communications, include the Harmony Flowers, the Sunflower Petal Drum, and the Tubular Bells, which are a firm favorite. All the instruments are perfect for the students who use wheelchairs (75% of students use one for mobility) based on the varying heights of all the selected instruments.
Sue Wiedder comments on how they chose the instruments; “The students that attend our school are visually impaired or blind with additional medial complexities and physical and cognitive disabilities. Some of the children have residual vision, but all are legally blind. In addition, we do have students that are non-verbal and rely on adaptive communication devices to express their thoughts and feelings. Therefore, we had to take our time deciding which instruments would be best for our special population of students. We originally had some items chosen, but when I talked to Robin, the Co-Founder of Percussion Play, he told me about the Tubular Bells and a story of how a student who was deaf and blind enjoyed ringing the bells because they could feel the vibrations of the chimes.”
The school has 5.5 acres of land within an urban city and decided to create multiple areas for the students to play with the instruments. All of the instruments were installed by the school’s buildings and grounds staff after the lockdowns due to COVID were finished.
Sue Wiedder says, “Each student has a whole educational team including a teacher of the visually impaired, speech and language pathologist, physical and occupational therapists, orientation and mobility specialists, a school psychologist and case managers. All of the teachers can see how much they have enhanced our students’ lives.”
Kelly Welsh, Certified Teacher of the Visually Impaired (TVI) at the school, says about one of her students; “Isaiah is primarily a tactile learner meaning he accesses his environment and surroundings by touch. He does have some light perception in one eye, hence him soaking up the sun in one of the pictures. Due to his profound hearing and visual loss, he needs to use his other senses such as touch and smell, to better understand what is going on around him. Within the classroom, he uses sign language for core vocabulary words such as eat, drink, go, more, finished. He uses tactile symbols and physical prompts to help him throughout his school day. As for the Tubular Bells, Isaiah is probably feeling the movement of the bells as they are played as well as the vibrations that come from striking the bells. Isaiah loves movement and gross motor activities so it’s not a surprise that he enjoyed the bells as much as he did.”
Sue Wiedder concludes; “I can’t say enough positive things about the installations. It’s such a great asset for our school, especially for the population of students that we have. The big thing is accessibility. But when you see a student with the mallets in their hands and they’re banging on the Tubular Bells, seeing the smiles on their faces and their reaction, that makes it all worth it – music is amazing. All I heard was such calming and pleasant sounds.”
Jody Ashfield, CEO of Percussion Play comments; “Ultimately, we support the campaign for systemic changes in musical instrument design, public space accessibility, educational practices, and mental health support to enable people who are deafblind to reap the benefits of creating music in the great outdoors. By rethinking how we structure musical play environments, especially outdoors, we can better serve blind and hearing-impaired individuals, tapping into their potential and improving their quality of life through equitable access to music and play.”
Percussion Play has seen growing global demand for its inclusive outdoor instruments, which are found in schools, community centres, places of worship, libraries, hospitals, and senior living communities. Designed to bring people together through the universal language of music, these instruments promote curiosity, creativity, and collaboration across all age groups.
