The following report refers to a Skoog project that took place in Oaklands Special School, Edinburgh.
Skoog Project
Place: Oaklands School, Edinburgh
Date: 02/03/11-27/04/11
Skoog musician: Evanthia Patsiaoura
I visited Oaklands School every Wednesday for seven weeks, working with children whose ages ranged from three to thirteen years old, to be found in nursery, primary, and secondary school respectively. Each Skoog session’s duration usually lasted thirty minutes and took place mainly among groups of two and three children. However, there were a few cases of one-to-one sessions with children from secondary school. Each day’s timetable consisted of both consistent and random groups: during the time gaps emerged between the fixed sessions, Skoog equipment was available to any children who had free time to visit the music class.
The children’s special needs and disabilities were variable, though sharing some common ground, such as their inability to communicate verbally. Conditions like autism, Down’s syndrome, global developmental delay, epilepsy, hypermobility syndrome, visual and even catastrophic impairments were some of the cases that I dealt with. In total, children’s response to Skoog was positive. A few cases showed minor enthusiasm: in these cases children were either very sleepy or seemed to be withdrawn, while their attention was hardly attracted. It is important to note that the Skoog didn’t cause any adverse reaction; on the contrary, it motivated those children’s active participation in the music class. In the majority of cases, Skoog intrigued children in ways through which they were given the chance to express themselves musically, as well as to share this music making with their classmates and hence develop their socialization skills.
Apart from the introductory meeting, in most of the group sessions I used both available Skoogs at the same time. This way, while I was working with a single child the other one or two could practice on the second Skoog. Furthermore, using both Skoogs simultaneously served as a means for practicing on a musical duet: this was strongly the case with Pupil B and Pupil A from primary school. The most popular sounds for Oaklands School children were the flute, both types of marimbas, and the acoustic as well as the rock guitar. The excitement that animal sounds used to cause to the majority of the children is worth mentioning. In some cases of both nursery and primary school, children were not only fascinated by producing animal sounds through Skoog, but also enjoyed reproducing them through their own voice. Last but not least, an interdisciplinary approach through music playing and drawing appeared to be quite constructive, as the specific group of primary school engaged into this activity not only seemed to enjoy themselves but also boost their level of consciousness, creativity, participation, and expressiveness.
The following report’s structure corresponds to the distinction of Skoog sessions according to age. For a more in depth understanding, video watching is suggested were available.
Nursery Groups:
Children from the nursery department were those ones with whom each day started. Despite their ages ranging from three to five years old, those children’s level of perception corresponded to no more than that one of an eighteen-month child, according to what I have been told by their care workers.
Pupil C was the one who attended most of the morning sessions. Pupil C’s experience with Skoog was a really pleasant one, apart from few times in which he was kind of lethargic. In general, Pupil C showed great patience with playing the Skoog: during our initial session, it was quite hard for him to produce sound without my support, but from the second session on, he embraced a dramatic improvement, as he managed playing the Skoog independently and developing awareness of his achievement. Pupil C mostly enjoyed the flute, bells (midi sounds), and animal sounds. He showed great enthusiasm to the frog ribbit, which he passionately tried to imitate during our fourth session. His consistent efforts, as well as his expressive facial expressions, such as wide smiling, can be seen in one of the session videos (see video 02898).
Pupil D showed up in only two of the morning sessions. Pupil D had the highest level of perception of all nursery children I met: not only she was able to understand what she was told by her care worker and myself, but she could also respond to it bodily. She engaged easily with Skoog playing, using both her hands and feet. Pupil D was quite expressive while playing the Skoog, and it is interesting enough to watch her giving herself feedback through clapping (see video 02898).
Three other cases of primary school had been Pupil E, Pupil F, and Pupil G. Pupil E’s case was one of the hardest, as both times she attended the class was too sleepy to focus on either Skoog or what was taking place in the class in general. Pupil F and Pupil G, on the other hand, had a single Skoog session during which they seemed to have great potentials in Skoog music making: Pupil G’s perception level was high enough to respond firmly to any direction given to her, especially that one of Skoog tapping, while Pupil F showed major enthusiasm to exploring the variable ways of Skoog playing rather independently than by being instructed.
Primary Groups:
Both groups from primary school consisted of three children each and were consistent as regards our weekly sessions.
Morning Primary Group
Pupil H, Pupil I, and Pupil J, whose ages ranged from six to seven years old, formed the morning primary group. All of three children demonstrated a significant improvement at Skoog performance as the sessions progressed. Pupil H might have been the most musical case of all I have met in Oakland’s school, as being extremely rhythmical and expressive. Apart from playing the Skoog using both her hands and feet (See Figure 1), Pupil H quite enjoyed dancing: sometimes she would rather prefer dancing on Skoog sounds than producing them. From the second session on she used to enter the class, approach the Skoog, and play by herself; apparently, in most of the cases she was rather willing to play independently than by given directions by either her carers or I (see video 3468 (1)).
Figure 1: Pupil H playing the Skoog using her feet.
While seeming a hard case due to his difficulty in focusing on the Skoog playing during our first session, Pupil I showed a gradual interest in Skoog from the second session onwards: he became much more coordinative, developing an intense eye and body-contact with me and therefore, engaging with Skoog performance. Pupil I enjoyed the tap-style playing, as well as the duet we used to form together with him on the Skoog and me at the drum. Surprisingly enough, during the last two sessions Pupil I turned to an individual player, since not requiring my directions anymore.
Pupil J’s case was a hard one indeed, since there were many times in which he was unwilling to play, and even in those that he was focused, he was so hyper-mobile that he needed a significant time to produce sound. Initially, he was interested in touching and pulling the Skoog’s wire. However, as the sessions progressed, he discovered that Skoog itself is something that can be pulled and pushed as well. So he managed to play his own ways: he worked best through using his feet, since they seemed to be the most active part of his body. Furthermore, placing the Skoog among his legs while seated (see video 3468 (2)), or on his body while lying (See Figure 2) on the floor were efficient positions for his Skoog experimentations.
Figure 2: Pupil J’s body positioning while playing the Skoog
Afternoon Primary Group
Pupil A, Pupil B, and Pupil K formed the afternoon primary group. This kind of trio, and especially Pupil A and Pupil B, was really energetic and probably the case where the sense of interaction among classmates was significant enough. Pupil K was not always participative; there were a few instances in which he was withdrawn, whereas Pupil A and Pupil B performed as a duet several times. During three out of the seven sessions, all of three children along with their care workers and I tried to engage in concurrent Skoog playing and drawing. The children seemed to enjoy this activity; I encourage them to try drawing several animals whose sounds they listened through Skoog, as well as distinguish among the colors of Skoog’s surfaces, pick up the equivalent color pens and draw. (See figure 3)
Figure 3: Interdisciplinary activity – Pupil A drawing while playing the Skoog by using his right foot
Pupil A was definitely a “Skoog” case, engaging well in playing through both his hands and feet, and in several ways, such as tapping, pressing, and shaking. Same way to Pupil A, Pupil B was quite interested in exploring the Skoog’s multiple functions, with a special passion for placing it on the floor and bending his whole body in order to tap it while seated on his wheelchair. Furthermore, Pupil B used to get excited by shaking the Skoog, especially when it came to monkey sounds: I used to encourage him to “shake the monkey!” (See video 2899). Pupil B’s strong sense of communication with both Pupil B and I is worth mentioning: he used to pass the Skoog to Pupil B, me, and also their care workers, as well as touch my hands and high five them.
As regards Pupil K, he was calm and relaxed in most of the sessions, and what usually worked for him was playing the Skoog through soft feet movements. Pupil K showed great enthusiasm for animal sounds: monkey, frog ribbit, and donkey. However, his inability to concentrating for a significant period of time prevented him to engage equally with his classmates.
Secondary individuals:
Pupil L was the most consistent one to one session of all which I had in Oaklands, since he attended all seven weekly sessions. Pupil L’s case is probably the most remarkable of all, as no matter his high level of autism, the thirteen-years-old teen showed quite a progress as regards his ability to concentrate on, play, and communicate through Skoog. During the first two sessions, there was major difficulty in catching Pupil L’s attention. I tried all those instrument sounds that are attractive to most of the children, such as flute, marimbas, and guitars, as well as animal sounds that are supposed to be impressive even to the hardest cases. None of them worked with Pupil L. So I attempted a Skoog sound that had not had any significant impact before, neither on any of the children nor me: the horn. The effect that horn had on Pupil L though, was quite surprising: he was not only inspired by the sound, but he actually did not want to leave the music class when the session was over. Therefore, from the third session onwards we almost exclusively worked with the horn sound. Using mostly his hands, but also his feet occasionally, Pupil L gradually achieved to be concentrated on Skoog playing for a significant time: ten minutes approximate duration of non-stop playing was his best effort. According to the information given by his care worker, Pupil L is quite a difficult case to cope with anything new. The voice sounds he used to make throughout each session’s duration were shouts of pleasure and excitement. Also, even the slight duration of three to five minutes for which he usually managed to be completely focused on Skoog, should be considered to be a high one for the specific case. Probably one of the most rewarding parts of Pupil L’s sessions was that one of watching him entering the class and heading on the Skoog independently: such a simple movement, but so important for a person whose ways of expressing himself are usually vague and hard to be interpreted. Video recording from one of Pupil L’s sessions could provide a wider understanding of his case (see video 3469).
Apart from Pupil L, I had the chance to work with five more children from secondary school: Pupil M, Pupil N, Pupil O, Pupil P, and Pupil Q. Although those children's placement shared a single classroom, the sessions were one-to-one oriented. Despite being an epileptic and strongly hard to focus on either Skoog or me, Pupil M’s case was one of the most surprising: by our third session, he had managed pressing the Skoog twice by exclusively himself, as well as a few other times through my support. In addition, as the sessions progressed, his sight gradually became more focused, and his facial expressions more explicit.
Pupil N responded firmly to Skoog both times I visited her. She kept her attention throughout the sessions, while consciously enjoying the interaction between us: she used to pass me the Skoog to play and vice versa. Pupil N showed great enthusiasm to flute and marimba sounds. Also, the fact that she consistently watched all of one-to-one sessions I had with her classmates is worth mentioning.
Pupil Q, a case of catastrophic impairment, was probably the hardest case I met. He was laid on the bed during both our sessions, and his ways of responding to the Skoog experience were out of my concern. Pupil Q’s perception level was equivalent to an early infant’s one: he was not even able to distinguish between “self” and “other. However, according to one of secondary school’s supervisors, Pupil Q’s reaction to Skoog was quite positive. Even though not obvious to someone who does not have the required relevant experience, such as me, the fact that Pupil Q’s head was facing the Skoog and his eyes were wide open showed his interest in Skoog. Moreover, he accepted my directive placement of his hands and head in such positions so as to produce sound through Skoog.
Pupil O and Pupil P’s cases were similar to Pupil Q’s, as their perception level corresponded to be quite younger than their actual teen ages. However, both could distinguish between “self” and “other”, whereas Pupil P could also differentiate between male and female genders. Both Pupil O and Pupil P were quite expressive through smiles and voice sounds during Skoog playing. Although requiring my support in order to produce sound through Skoog, they seemed to be conscious of their performance.
Discussion:
Regardless each case’s special needs and conditions, Skoog activities seemed to be beneficial for all children I worked with in Oaklands School. Among the Skoog’s positive effects on children were: practicing their ability to focus on a consistent activity, such as music making, for a significant period of time; developing consciousness regarding the cause-and-effect relationships through sound production; boosting their socialization skills, as well as a sense of collaboration and teamwork; engaging in interdisciplinary activities, such as music making and drawing; increasing their self-consciousness and therefore, self-esteem through the production of Skoog sounds and the reproduction of those sounds by their voice as well. Overall, Skoog may be considered to be a valuable means of both musical and social interaction. It provides people with special needs with the chance to play music, express themselves, have fun, and develop their skills through multiple ways, all of them easily accessible while strongly effective.
