Teaching Music to Students with Differences and Disabilities
Date
February 9-May 1, 2026
Asynchronous
Course Code
72161A | 578
Credits
MECA: 3 | MMEd: 2
Tuition
$1194
Course Description
The music classroom is an inherently inclusive and cooperative environment. Meeting the needs of students with differences and disabilities, however, requires a specific set of skills, dispositions, and experiences to appropriately adapt and modify instruction. Enhancing the inclusive and cooperative possibilities in the music classroom while meeting the needs of all students is a challenging yet exhilarating possibility. This course will focus on identifying areas of strength and challenge in students with differences and disabilities, advocating for the appropriate classroom environment for all students, and the creation of adaptations and modifications (winding) for students in inclusive and self-contained music classrooms.
This is an online course that runs from February 9, 2026 – May 1, 2026. Asynchronous. No required zoom meetings. Students will respond through discussion question responses based on text readings and projects designed to facilitate synthesis and application of concepts as they work through the course. Students are expected to complete all work for the class. There is no attendance taken other than assignment completion.
*This course is available at two levels:
- MMEd Program Students: If you’re enrolled in the MMEd program at VanderCook, register for the 500-level course.
- MECA Continuing Education Students: If you’re not in the MMEd program but wish to earn graduate credit, register for the 7000-level course.
The difference in credits earned and tuition costs reflects the varying tuition rates between the MMEd and MECA Continuing Education programs. If you’re unsure which section is right for you, feel free to reach out to [email protected] for assistance.
Instructor
Grammy Award Nominated music educator, Dr. Alice Hammel, was the 2023 National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Lowell Mason Fellow, Virginia Music Educator Association Outstanding Educator (2018), and is the current Past-President of the Virginia Music Educators Association. She is a widely known music educator, author, and clinician whose experience in music is extraordinarily diverse. She is a member of the faculty of The University of Arkansas, and has many years of experience teaching instrumental and choral music in public and private schools.
Dr. Hammel has put these varied experiences to great use while compiling a large body of scholarly work. She is a co-author for many texts:
- Teaching Music to Students with Differences and Disabilities: A Label-free Approach (third edition),
- Teaching Music to Students with Autism (second edition),
- Winding It Back: Teaching to Individual Differences in Music Classroom and Ensemble Settings
- Teaching Music to Students with Differences and Disabilities: A Practical Resource (second edition)
- Universal Design for Learning and Music Education.
Dr. Hammel is Past-President of the Council for Exceptional Children – Division for Visual and Performing Arts Education and was recently awarded their Past President Award for Excellence. Dr. Hammel has served NAfME as a member of the National Executive Board, The Equity Committee, and The Music Teacher Initiative. She is a proponent of Music Will and the Modern Band movement.