Justus Butler

Independent Research Project Proposal

7 September, 2020

The topic that I have chosen to focus on is titled, “Instrumental Recruiting Events for Students

with Learning Challenges and Disabilities”. This project will identify and assess how recruiting events

held for beginning instrumental programs can have a significant impact on students with learning

challenges and disabilities, and what directors should do in order to welcome all students into their

classroom.

My research will begin with five sources that consist of both online and text formats. The first

being an article published by the American Psychological Association titled, ​Recruiting Students with

Disabilities ​(Association, 2012). While this resource is aimed towards colleges and universities, the

accommodations and reasons of importance directly apply to my research in beginning instrumental

recruitment events. Next, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) published

an article titled ​Five Strategies for Teaching Students with Disabilities in Band/Orchestra ​(Lapka, 2013)​.

This resource provides direct information on how music teachers should approach their instrument petting

zoos for students with learning disabilities. The Illinois Elementary School Association provided an

article titled ​Teaching Music to Students with Disabilities ​(Lapka, 2011), which includes an outline of

how recruiting events can successfully work for students with disabilities and why it is so important to

give them a space to participate in a music program. For my fourth initial resource, I will be using Alice

Hammel and Ryan Hourigan’s ​Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs - A Label Free Approach

(Hammel & Hourigan, 2017)​.​ This book is an excellent piece of information for my project because it is

filled with an overwhelming amount of information on how to effectively and respectfully create spaces

for students with special needs within a music classroom. While this resource does not explicitly discuss
beginning band recruitment, it provides information on other beginning band issues faced by students who

learn differently, and will be a great resource for me to use to help decide how programs should be

modifying their recruitment events to be the most inclusive and how that directly affects their program.

Reference List:

Association, A. P. (2012). Recruiting Students with Disabilities. Retrieved September 07, 2020, from

https://www.apa.org/pi/disability/dart/toolkit-four

Hammel, A., & Hourigan, R. M. (2017). ​Teaching music to students with special needs: A label-free

approach​. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Lapka, C. (2011, September 16). Teaching Music to Students with Disabilities (Abilities). Retrieved

September 7, 2020, from https://www.iesa.org/documents/activities/IESA-MU_Disabilities.pdf

Lapka, C. (2013, Fall). Five Strategies for Teaching Students with Disabilities in Band/Orchestra.

Retrieved September 7, 2020, from https://www.nfhs.org/media/1016819/39-16.pdf