HMS Songs
15-songs on CD, performed by the students of 
HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy, Philadelphia, PA

Click on these links for musical samples (RealAudio Format)

ABC_ Song.ra                      Rockin_Robin.ra 
I'm_A_Believer.ra                 Under_the_Sea.ra 
Over_the_Rainbow.ra          Working_on_the_RR.ra 

Check back for information on how to obtain a copy of our CD!

About the CD

HMS Songs is a CD containing fifteen recordings made by the students of HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy, Philadelphia, PA. These recordings began in the Spring of 2002, as a recording project by two of the classrooms at HMS. Since then, the project has been expanded to include every student at HMS.

The students at HMS create music in innovative ways. To facilitate involvement by students with limited movement, switch-activated interfaces were used to allow students to input the musical chords or motifs using one or two switches. Similarly, some students used augmentative communication devices to sing the lyrics and other phrases.

Each classroom was involved in the song planning. Students were encouraged to give input about choice of songs, the song arrangement, and choices of instruments. The songs were then rehearsed by the students and recorded. Multitrack recording technology was used during the recording, allowing some students to contribute multiple parts to the same song.

This project attempted to capture the innate musicality of each student at HMS. I believe that these songs illustrate the incredible creativity, joy, and musical expressiveness of the students.

Enjoy!

Brad Biedermann, Music Therapist

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