Self-directed Study Sheet 4
Context: Finn, who has profound learning difficulties, is playing the drum
- Observation: Think about what you see and hear in the video.
- Interpretation: What can you reasonably infer about the person's musical engagement?
- Assessment: Suggest a Sounds of Intent Level and Domain.
Finn taps a more-or-less regular beat on his drum with his left hand, followed by some less regular sounds made using both hands. The near-regularity of Finn’s beat could be attributable either to the conscious creation of a pattern driven by sound or through the repetition movement in his left arm, in which sound plays a secondary role. The fact that he stops playing the beat after a while and makes a series of irregular sounds with both hands suggests that he may have sufficient control over the movements of his arm for these to be dictated by the wish to make a regular pattern in sound. Hence his engagement in this excerpt can be classified as Level 3, Proactive (P.3): ‘intentionally makes simple patterns in sound’.