ABSTRACT
Listening, improvising, performing and composing are really all that music in school is about. Music is everywhere. Listening can be one of the hardest components of any Music course. Listening as part of a music lesson is much the same for all learners, with all different types of special/additional needs. Pupils with SLD and PMLD have short concentration spans, but they respond well to music, especially when staff understand the pupils' tastes. Sitting in a group of peers who are being quiet, listening and concentrating on the music will benefit the pupils on the autistic spectrum. Perhaps the best starting point for performing or composing, or improvisation proper, is to explore instruments and find out what they can do, without instruction or restriction. Many pupils with learning difficulties enjoy performing. Composition benefits from pupils having improvised first, and from having listened to music from all genres and all parts of the world, and from different times, both recorded and live.
