This week the early years children have started to create their sound wall. I think they want to call it a percussion fence... so that's OK!! They have sorted through all of the school's percussion instruments and saved all the broken bits and bobs.
Mostly they found triangles and bits of xylophones. They tied these (they had to learn how to do knots!) to a bare metal fence in the playground that surrounds the area they call 'the bouncy tarmac.' One part of the fence is for tingling sounds. They discovered that the metal fence enhances the sound and this got them very excited! The other part of the fence is for banging sounds. Already they have drum kits rescued from the garden department at Homebase that was giving them away free and a metal shelf out of the staffroom fence.
The children have now been challenged to think up and bring in more materials to fill up the fence. It will be exciting to see how this project develops.
Thanks for posting on this topic. I work with special needs and train teachers to be more inclusive to a wide range of abilities. I've been exploring what is known as targeted vibroacoustics (TvA) to create a "seeing~sound labyrinth". Here's how I described it in a recent Developer's Guide article:
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Keeping in mind some of the unique life circumstances of some of those wishing to enter an outdoor interactive environment, technology is increasingly more available to make these spaces more therapeutic. For instance, a system of Targeted Vibroacoustics (TvA) can viably assist with movement disorders and sensory challenge in the design of a Sensational Therapy Garden.
In crafting a therapeutically sensational garden you would want to activate discovery learning. This is based on the fundamental premise that learning experiences (and difficulties) are related to developmental difficulties in absorption and processing information in a coherent manner.
A “Seeing~Sound Labyrinth” would seek to stimulate organs of sensation, hearing and balance thereby restoring harmony and awakening innate capacities.
Studies show our ability to navigate our environment is largely dependent on our knowledge and recognition of landmarks and sensation adaptation. (7) For sighted people the landmarks we use are nearly always visual. We know where we are because we recognize our personal 'landmarks' such as the corner store, the office tower, the city park, the mountain in the distance, the river, lake or coastline. However, for the blind and vision impaired orientation and navigation using visual landmarks is impossible. A Seeing Sound Labyrinth creates reference points as both audio and vibratory landmarks that could be almost as reliable as visual markers for those that need to (or want to) enhance complementary sense capacities.
By placing the Illumination features and sound labyrinth tubes in strategic places along a path or garden (particularly with water elements) a resonating vibro-acoustic map can be fashioned to offer an adaptive means of navigation and sensory stimulation.
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