If a student’s IEP goals include increasing concentration, strengthening fingers, expressing emotion and improving ocular movement... the piano is an incredibly rewarding place to achieve them.
~ Lee Stockner, Author, Occupational Octaves Piano™ Series
What is the Occupational Octaves Piano Series?
Occupational Octaves Piano™ is an innovative piano instruction method that uses color coded keys and rings to assist learners, especially those with physical or learning disabilities, to successfully play the piano.
The curriculum is intended for a variety of professionals and includes over 500 trackable goals and data points that instructors can target in environments such as public and private schools, therapy sessions, assisted living facilities, and more. These targets range from fine motor movement to concentration to self-expression and, with UnitusTI, progress is easy to visualize through reports and charts. Occupational Octaves Piano™ is also “Non-Music-Instructor-Friendly,” meaning instructors without a music background will have equal success in program implementation.
“At nearly 91, my mother is finding life difficult now because she has lost a good deal of her vision. She has never even touched a piano before and has had no musical training. I was at a loss as to what I could interest her in . . . and then I thought of Occupational Octaves. Although she can’t read the letters, she can see the colours ... This video came at the end of her very first half hour lesson. She really enjoyed it. So did I.”
*The Occupational Octaves Piano™ program is owned and copyrighted by the program author and is provided by Mundo Pato Inc. as an optional, 3rd party add-on to the UnitusTI electronic data records cloud service.
Who is it for?
While Occupational Octaves Piano™ was developed mainly from working with students diagnosed with autism, the program is a highly intuitive, easy to use option for almost any type of organization, for people with and without special needs:
Occupational Therapists
Assisted Living Centers
Public & Private schools
Music Therapists
Piano Teachers
Rehabilitative Programs for Addiction, PTSD, TBI and more
Whether a patient is diagnosed with severe attentional deficiencies or an individual is simply suffering through a depressed phase and is finding difficulty with normal concentration, the brain can feel relief and growth through this Flow-based approach.
“I use the series in several ways. With some clients who are living with Autism Spectrum Disorder and who have motor and verbal processing issues, I’ve used it to improve processing skills, increase attending, improve ability to follow adult direction and build self-esteem. Some of my clients are functionally non-verbal. Depending on their skill level, I have them voice/name the letter as they play or write the lyrics to the simple familiar melodies out under the notes and increase the amount of information they have to attend to by having them accompany themselves and sing the words. It addresses multiple needs and can accommodate a wide variety of goals/ objectives from a therapeutic standpoint. I spent a lot of years creating my own color coded systems with the standard notation but these books have saved me so much time and it’s a consistent standardized tool. I can’t say enough good things about them. Thank you for this great resource!”
Why should you use it?
Since 2013, Occupational Octaves Piano™ has been used worldwide to empower learners with Autism and other special needs to independently play classical music at the piano. Taught mostly by Special Educators, Music Educators, and Music Therapists, the empowering factor behind this method is the “Special-Needs-User-Friendly New-Language-of-Music”. In partnership with UnitusTI's cloud-based curriculum and data analysis application, Occupational Octaves Piano™ empowers educators from numerous backgrounds to use the piano to accomplish the optimal and often mandated goals for a particular student.
“Learning to play the piano has been a challenging and very rewarding experience for each of our sons. Lee creatively designed a visual system of learning the notes without reading music and using various symbols for the sharps, flats and pedal, etc. which the boys learned instantly. Their attention and sense of accomplishment is so exciting to witness, and the best of all….. the beautiful sound of music that radiates on our home on Monday nights! This is a wonderful opportunity for any child with autism who loves music like our sons. Lee ‘s training in ABA and experience working with kids with autism along with his musical talent are a wonderful combination. He is patient and dedicated to developing their skills and is a joy to have as their piano teacher!”
“When we first sought out adaptable piano lessons, Tommy was presenting with severe delays in all domains of development. He was constantly seeking sensory input in all forms. At our very first lesson- was the first time that I saw my child sitting upright, following directions and expressing emotional satisfaction over the music he was creating. The program was designed for all learning styles. As a physical therapist, I could appreciate the physical and cognitive benefits that Tommy was and is experiencing: higher level thinking, improved breathing and postural control, shoulder and pelvic stability, and development of his fine motor skills. As a mother, I was able to witness my child’s creativity, self esteem and joy. ”
How does it work?
Method
When using traditional music notation, each note has three main instructions to decode – 1) which note to play, 2) which finger to use, and, 3) how long to hold for. For generations, this information has been embedded in a complex system of circles, flags, lines, dots, spaces, and confusing symbols. When using Occupational Octaves Piano™, the same instructions are embedded in the simplicity of colored letters in rhythmically designed boxes. The “Special-Needs-User-Friendly” approach reduces the challenge of complex decoding down to simple matching.
Flow
Reaching a state of Flow at the piano, one of the most beneficial activities a person may take part in, requires “Functional Expertise” in (1) translating musical instructions, (2) organizing the instructions, (3) properly playing the instructions, and then (4) repeating steps 1-3. Developing expertise in reading traditional music notation is incredibly difficult and may take many years before the process becomes rewarding. With Occupational Octaves Piano, students who can match colors and letters reach expert levels of reading the language of music immediately. Now, teachers, parents, therapists and others can help learners concentrate so their minds and bodies may be completely immersed in the rewards of musical development.
Delivered through the UnitusTI electronic data records cloud
Access from any device, anywhere in the world
The Occupational Octaves Piano™ program is delivered to professionals via subscription to the UnitusTI electronic data records (EDR) cloud. Leading-edge data collection, staff and client management tools and program templates are built right into UnitusTI:
See instant data and quickly graph progress to make informed decisions
Provide reports and share relevant data securely with others
Track staff performance and give them collaboration tools to keep progress on track
Customizable data collection means you can track as much or as little as you need to keep business humming and your clients happy
UnitusTI capabilities include:
Assessments | Programs | Curricula | Data Acquisition Types | Program Maintenance | Target Maintenance | Pre-defined Reports | Customizable Reports | Service Code Tracking | Session Notes | Graphing | Calendar | Internal Messaging | Document Storage | Session Tracking | Interactive Materials | Role-based Access | Multimedia | Automatic Backups | Billing Prep | Real-time Data Monitoring
Find out more...
Get more information from one of our experts or schedule a free demo to see it live.
About the Author
Lee Stockner, Occupational Octaves Piano™ Program Author, inventor, music educator, special educator, business owner, program creator, instructor, trainer, author, publisher and innovator
Diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder, himself, Lee developed methods to successfully overcome the challenge of a learning disorder. When approached to work with a student with Autism at the piano, that challenge was fully ignited and Lee began a career at a school for students with severe Autism. Lee's students, many with disabilities so severe that there were unable to learn traditional music notation, empowered him to refine and grow his methods, leading him to create an alternative, "Special-Needs-User-Friendly" language of music.
In 2012, Lee formalized a curriculum based on this new language and published Occupational Octaves Piano through his company, Music Lee Inclined Guy, Inc.
In 2017, Lee spoke on a panel of experts at the Hofstra University Northwell School of Medicine during an event in which low functioning students with Autism performed classical pieces such as Fur Elise and The Blue Danube. In 2016, Lee held a Special Needs Recital at a Steinway piano gallery. See this and other videos on the Occupational Octaves YouTube page.