In the last year of the Music in Education programme I specialised in education for disabled children. I learned how to teach and to design music experience lessons for children with multiple disabilities. Music experience lessons focus on the senses and how they interact when experiencing music. I found it very inspiring to see what impact these music experience lessons had on the children and their connection with others. 

In the Master in Musical Leadership I got the opportunity to delve further into this topic. I carried out a project in which I composed music for these music experience lessons. I researched the elements which this music must consist of in order be suitable for this approach. Next, I looked into the effects of this music on the approach and on the children. By setting up and carrying out this educational music project, I learned about my inquiring, managerial, designing and compositional sides. The master allowed me to develop these new, totally different roles. 

My mission for the next years is to do more research into the written compositions and their effect on the sensory experience of music. Additionally, I want to see if besides special education I can compose for other target groups as well. Finally, with the multi-modal toolbox I have developed, I want to increase awareness of these music experience lessons and show the power that sensory experience of music has. This toolbox contains my own music and has been developed especially for music teachers and music therapists to acquaint themselves in a playful way with music experience lessons and how to design them. 

Iris van Doggenaar