Codi Colors, inclusive method for learning the piano

Toni Codina on 4 April 2023

Codi Colors, mètode inclusiu per a l’aprenentatge del piano

Innovative method of musical education designed for people with disabilities to learn to play the piano and enjoy making music. It allows them to feel fulfilled thanks to the practical results of the method, enabling them to play songs and pieces following a score based on basic musical concepts.

Codi Colors –in English, the Colour Code– works by associating each note with a colour. This simplified structure makes musical structures much easier to memorise and learn. It is put into practice through complete graphic and didactic material. Thus, it counts with a book for the student and a support book for teachers and families, in which the methodology and advice for its application are explained.

Both books consist of a repertoire of 57 traditional, popular and signature songs written with the code and accompanied by illustrations. The pieces –all of an accessible level– are arranged according to degree of difficulty and theme, mostly referring to the different seasons of the year. The scores are adapted to make them easier to understand: they are written in treble clef, without time signatures or values, and the size of the staves is large, among other things. In addition to the books, more specifically prepared teaching material –an adapted music booklet and coloured stickers– make it possible to implement the method, which can be perfectly combined with coloured instruments (bells, pipes, bells, horns, carillons, etc.).

Although Codi Colors is mainly aimed at pupils with very diverse special educational needs –physical, sensory, communication, intellectual, mental disorders–, it is not only for these groups. Thus, Codi Colors paves the way for making music and avoids the difficulty of conventional music reading for everyone. It is valid for the initial learning of music -for students at an early age-, for musical awareness and for musical language or instrument classes. In addition, the music learning system works for both group and individual lessons.

Characteristics of innovation

Publications, Bank of innovations, Disability, Independent living, New service, User empowerment

Localization

Igualada, Catalonia

Partners / Funders

Codi Colors

Genesis

Maria Mercè Corrons Roca is a piano teacher and music teacher for students with functional diversity at the Igualada Municipal Music School-Conservatory (ECMMI). Given the realisation that there is no method or form of integrated music teaching suitable for such a diverse group with so many individual specificities, and taking advantage of her pedagogical experience, she has created the Codi Colors. This method allows all types of students to learn and approach the world of music. In June 2022 the book Codi Colors: la música a l’abast de tothom was published, with a foreword by Dr. Melissa Mercadal-Brotons, academic director and coordinator of the Master’s Degree in Music Therapy at the ESMUC (Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya).

Level of implementation

The method has been exposed through various workshops and presentations that have taken place, among others at the third Congress of Musical Pedagogy of the Association of Conservatories of Catalonia. So far, the method has proved to be satisfactory and the association of colours advantageous, as several pedagogical materials use the same system. The goal is to make Codi Colors available to teachers and pupils, i.e. to make it known and to make it available to as many people as possible.

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Tiflolibros, digital library for people with visual impairment

Toni Codina on 21 February 2023

Spanish-speaking digital library with free access for the visually impaired. It counts on more than 60,000 books –in text files– that can be downloaded and read from any adapted device with a screen reader programme.

Tiflolibros is the first internet library specifically designed and available for Spanish-speaking people with some kind of visual impairment –blind and visually impaired people– or other difficulties –dyslexia and literacy learning disorders– that prevent access to reading. They can also use the institutions that offer support and services to these groups. The aim of the project is to extend access to reading and information by taking advantage of new technologies, thus contributing to improving the quality of life and favouring the autonomy of visually impaired people.

The library is built as a network, based on the contributions of books that various users and institutions digitise and works provided in digital files by the publishers and authors themselves. Once the files are digitised, it is with the help of a screen reader programme that the devices can output the written texts in the form of an artificial voice or as tactile lines in Braille.

Both access to the library and the downloading of books are free of charge once the registration process is completed. In order to register, it is necessary to provide a series of personal data and to prove the disability or difficulty in accessing conventional reading by presenting a disability certificate or card or a psycho-pedagogical or medical report. Currently, the Tiflolibros library is present in 48 countries and reaches more than 10,000 users with some kind of visual disability. Beyond that, the library is also a space for exchange and contact between visually impaired people from all over the world.