Abstract:

The quality of attention to students with special educational needs (SEN) is undoubtedly one of the most reliable indicators of the educational quality of a system, any school or classroom.

This paper describes an educational experience carried out in the subject of music at SAFA school (Úbeda). The practice is part of an integrated task based on Service-Learning experience whose main purpose is the creation of a band and the recording of the soundtrack of La vita è bella. The musical formation is integrated by the SEN students and musical instrumentalists of different educational stages at the school: Primary Education, Secondary Education and prospect teachers from a Teacher Training Center.

Across its implementation, different musical methodologies have been employed such as those by Dalcroze, Kodaly Orff ... so as to make students feel creative, mediators and main characters of the musical interpretation. Likewise, we have worked with inclusion in school by means of music and instrumental practice. In fact, a real development has achieved at the cognitive, emotional and emotional levels.

We understand musical education as a right of everybody, being a key aspect in the holistic training of children and, therefore, essential in every educational stage, considering that this should start already at early stages. In addition, we believe it is fundamental to try to awaken a taste for music in children, and respect for differences through favorable experiences. It was Dalcroze (1976) who supported this idea by pointing out that "musical initiation is important for the development of the human personality because it develops the dynamic, sensory, affective, mental and spiritual abilities of the individual”.

One of the most important characteristics of music is the social impact it exerts on us. Actually, music has played an important role in the social and spiritual development of human beings since its beginnings, and people have come together to sing, dance and celebrate rituals. We can then deduce that the human species is social by nature, Koelsch (2011) defend that there are societies without literacy, but not without music.

With respect to the benefits of implementing music with SEN students, we can state that numerous research works have been carried out on music-based therapies. Gregory (2002) showed how music favors the maintenance of attention and evinced that elderly people with cognitive impairments respond more accurately to musical quotations proposed in sessions.

In a review of 30 empirical clinical studies conducted between 1986 and 1996 on "Music and Dementias" and published by Mercadal-Brotons and Koger, it is concluded that music therapy interventions are an effective alternative to treat Alzheimer's disease, since music reinforces memory, retention and evocation of information giving patients a greater security when it comes to relating to the world around them while keeping them in constant activity.

In addition, studies carried out by Peñalba (2010), show that through songs, fast speed and marked pace, good results can be obtained in terms of control of hyperkinesia. Those songs that we can consider stimulating and moving character are the ones that can help children solve their condition of constant mobility.

Keywords:

Music, therapy, inclusion, SEN students, education.