7.3 Recommendations for an inclusive pedagogy in online music teaching
Regarding the pedagogical plan, our experiment makes clear that choosing an individual modality and brief session length is a good option for remote music sessions. However, it may be interesting to begin the project with individual sessions and then, according to the youth’s development, integrate siblings, parents, or friends into the musical activities, favouring interactions with others, social bonds and a sense of belonging. Eliminating length restrictions to better follow youths’ pace may also be interesting (e.g. between 20 and 50 minutes, rather than a fixed 30 minutes). Also, considering the time needed for the youths to learn and integrate their new skills, we suggest providing them with a recording of their sessions so that they can practice between lessons, which would enhance knowledge reactivation. Further, in the physical environment it would be important for future experiments to ensure optimal conditions for sessions, as much for the youths as for the session leaders themselves, to limit distractions and background noise, to have enough space to move, and to have computer equipment adapted for remote music sessions. It may also be interesting to offer the possibility for the session leader to travel to the youth’s home in addition to the distance modality, according to the stated objectives and the youth’s attention span. In future, it would be important to define more precisely the respective roles of parents and session leader. The research team could, for example, propose different modalities according to the needs and interests of parents and their child; among them, it would be important to propose a modality where the parent leaves their youth alone with the session leader, and another where the parent would actively participate in musical activities (having developed pedagogical material according to this parent-child modality).
The instruments were another compelling aspect. First, ensuring that instruments offered do not have a too-strident sound when captured by a microphone (e.g. shakers, cymbals). Then, instruments must be adapted to participants’ needs and interests; involving participants and parents in instrument selection was useful. We also noted that beginning with sessions without instruments was useful for establishing a session routine and to take care of technical questions, integrating instruments after a few weeks to foster participants’ interest. Adapting session tools according to youths’ evolution is also important, as is flexibility in their use (e.g. pictograms vs. physical gestures). On the technical side, the videoconference software’s settings must be tested and updated to optimize the sound quality and latency. Use of complementary software like Ecamm Live can improve the experience for the youths and session leaders by allowing images to be shown on-screen in real time. Finally, a fisheye and wireless headphones are useful tools to provide to session leaders, to reduce camera manipulations, to facilitate movement, and to ensure confidentiality in meetings.