The training of students with visual disabilities within the framework of music conservatories in Spain

Abstract

This article reports on the research carried out between 2013 and 2017 on the teaching of students with visual disabilities at the Conservatories of Music, gathering the most outstanding resources and best practices that were revealed on promoting inclusion for these centers, also being many of them can be extrapolated to music schools and / or musical groups that make up the blind. It starts from the difficulties of the subject in the reduced bibliography and that the music teachers don´t have enough information, experience and previous training to instruct blind students (Chaves, Godall and Zattera, 2015; Chávez, 2010; Dias, 2010). The research methodology was ethnography based on a dialogue of knowledge between visually impaired students, their families and teachers together with specialists in this field. For the evaluation of the results, it was connected with the “expert judgment” methodology, which evaluated the strategies and resources. Finally, this research makes visible the practices that are useful for the development of an inclusive musical education for students with visual disabilities.