Music and Disability

MUSIC 176R Subject & Catalog Number

Description

This course explores music and disability studies, inclusive music education and practice, and disability arts. Our work together approaches disability not as deficit, but as a dimension of human diversity worthy of creative exploration, curiosity, and appreciation. We will consider what disability teaches us about beauty and meaning, about community and interdependence, and about the ways artistic practices shape who belongs. Seeking to identify and dismantle ableism wherever it appears, we will interrogate established artistic traditions, canons, and relationships, examining how they might be reimagined to foster access, belonging, and innovation. The course intentionally positions disabled individuals as experts on their own identities and experiences and prioritizes works by disabled scholars, activists, artists, educators, and students.

As a Mindich Engaged Scholarship course, students will develop new projects and contribute to ongoing initiatives that support sustainable and inclusive creative practice through direct collaboration with Cambridge Common Voices, a neurodiverse music ensemble developed in partnership with Lesley University’s Threshold Program. As a culminating project, students will collaborate on a proposal for a Disability Cultural Center at Harvard—a conceptual space designed to promote empowerment, creative exploration, cultural affirmation, and the visibility of disability identity and culture across campus.

CAMBRIDGE COMMON VOICES: All students in Music 176 are required to participate in a neurodiverse music ensemble (www.singatharvard.com/ccv). In our work together, we will strive to create an inclusive musical space that affirms individual voices while exploring innovative approaches to music-making, including principles of Universal Design for Learning and Empowering Song. The ensemble meets on Tuesdays from 5:00–6:30pm or Fridays 3:00-4:15pm and welcomes musicians of all experiences and abilities.

Course Notes

Students from other departments and schools are welcome. Requires participation in Cambridge Common Voices (Tuesdays 5:00 - 6:30 pm) plus one section.

Recommended Prep

No prior experience or expertise in music is necessary.