Music Lessons for Children and Adults with Special Needs
Learning to play an instrument can be a challenge for any student.
Still, the special needs population requires a more delicate, focused, and proven methodology that helps students with developmental, autistic, and other disabilities enjoy the lifelong benefit of learning to play an instrument to the best of their abilities. Learning to appreciate, engage, and play a musical instrument benefits them in so many ways.
Music lessons for a special needs child or adult enrich their enjoyment, eye, and hand coordination, which can only help them in so many other areas of their life. We at Big Beat Music Studio understand the challenges, and we are proud to offer a variety of programs to bring the joy of learning a musical instrument to the special need’s child or adult.
FREE 1/2 Hour Lesson
Drum or Guitar Program for Special Needs Kids
Big Beat Music offers a unique “Lights, Sounds, Shapes and Action Through Music” program that is an enriching, educational, and entertaining music program designed for one-on-one sessions at our Studio. This program is particularly effective when working with Special Needs children as the kids are receptive, engaged, and having fun while learning music!
“One day my son, Adam, who is 16 and has Autism started playing chop sticks on the keyboard at home. That’s when I first realized he liked piano! That’s where my journey began…
I live in Aberdeen, NJ and called music schools all around my area. We tried a few of them out, but it didn’t work out well at all. So, I continued my search for a music school for Adam and found Big Beat Music in Neptune City. It was clear after a couple of visits that I had found THE school for Adam!
Adam has been taking piano lessons with Michele for over 2 years now. He looks forward to them every week and is doing fantastic! He loves it there so much that he asked if he could also take guitar lessons. He started his lessons with Scott who was absolutely fantastic with him. We will be continuing the guitar lessons also! I have to say that the entire staff at Big Beat Music is wonderful and sweet. If you are looking for a music school, this is your place!” ”
“I am the mother of a five-year-old child with special needs. My son Alex has a severe speech and language disorder, and he has difficulty processing language.
We started coming for drum lessons at Big Beat in Neptune City in June of 1995. I did not know whether Alex would understand directions, but one thing I know about my child is that he loves music and he’s always “with the beat.”
Joe Nevolo started with Alex knowing only that he loved music and did not understand spoken language very well. The past year of drumming has given Alex a new sense of the world around him – a world of different sounds. Drum lessons have helped to improve his attention span and his ability to concentrate. His coordination and self-esteem have also improved. Best of all, Alex feels the joy of musical achievement.
When Alex first started lessons, Joe used a laser pointer for teaching. Joe is following Alex’s progress in school, so once Alex learned his numbers, it was easier to give him instructions like ‘On drum number two, hit four times; on drum number four, hit six times.’ Joe reinforces the lessons Alex learns in school, but the environment of the drum studio is less restrictive.
Alex gets the biggest thrill whenever he sees someone playing the drums on television. He gets out his wooden spoons or drumsticks and follows the drummer’s beat.
My son is not an ordinary child, but Joe is not an ordinary teacher. Joe’s relentless pursuit of new teaching methods is his most extraordinary quality.”
“One last point on Vanessa and her autism. It is common for individuals with autism to be disfluent (stutter), again due to difficulty processing language. From the age of five, Vanessa has had a fairly significant disfluency problem. Since Vanessa has been with Mr. Nevolo her disfluency, although not completely gone, has decreased dramatically. Vanessa’s school speech pathologist and her private speech pathologist theorize the decrease is due in part to the drum lessons Mr. Nevolo is giving her. Her ability for thythm and timing and Mr. Nevolo’s resourceful teaching can be credited with this milestone.
In my opinion, Mr. Nevolo’s skills as a drum teacher are superior. He is inventive, imaginative and very effective. As a parent I am very fortunate to have him as my daughter’s drum teacher. He continues to draw out Vanessa’s talents that at times seem almost too good to be true. He is a credit to his profession.
It has been my pleasure to share my personal experiences with you concerning Mr. Nevolo. Thank you for the opportunity to do so.”
This special needs drum program utilizes a system of symbols and geometric shapes, that makes learning to play music easier. Big Beat Music’s musical director Joe Nevolo gained national and international attention with this unique program offered only at Big Beat.
The special needs guitar program uses an interactive game named “Rock Smith” to promote hand-eye coordination and learning different colors for recognizing the names of strings. This offers a fun way of getting them focused on what it takes to learn the guitar. There are different games that instill the basics of music.
The goal for Big Beat Music is to provide students with a variety of disabilities, the tools necessary to achieve their musical goals, inspiring creativity, self-expression, and a sense of fulfillment and pride.
Program Testimonial for Student with Special Needs
“I am the mother of a five year old child with special needs. My son Alex has a severe speech and language disorder, and he has difficulty processing language. We started coming for drum lessons at Big Beat in Neptune City in June of 1995. I did not know whether Alex would understand directions, but one thing I know about my child is that he loves music and he’s always ‘with the beat.’ Joe Nevolo started with Alex knowing only that he loved music and did not understand spoken language very well. The past year of drumming has given Alex a new sense of the world around him – a world of different sounds. Drum lessons have helped to improve his attention span and his ability to concentrate. His coordination and self-esteem have also improved. Best of all, Alex feels the job of musical achievement.
When Alex first started lessons, Joe used a laser pointer for teaching. Joe is following Alex’s progress in school, so once Alex learned his numbers, it was easier to give him instruction like ‘On drum number two, hit four times; on drum number four, hit six times.’ Joe reinforces the lessons Alex learns in school, but the environment of the drum studio is less restrictive. Alex gets the biggest thrill whenever he sees someone playing the drums on television. He gets out his wooden spoons or drum sticks and follows the drummer’s beat.
“My son is not an ordinary child, but Joe is not an ordinary teacher. Joe’s relentless pursuit of new teaching methods is his most extraordinary quality.””