How to adapt music-making for Autism Resource Bases

With the 2025 Music Mark Annual Conference quickly approaching, Alex Lupo and Beth Pickard told us more about what you can expect from their session ‘Musical Connections: Nurturing a music culture in specialist autism provision’ and share some tips for how to adapt music-making for Autism Resource Bases.

(c) Mark Cox Photography

Our session for the Music Mark conference will focus on key learning from Live Music Now’s 3-year Youth Music funded project supporting music-making in Autism Resource Bases (ARB) within 18 mainstream schools. The programme was developed and led in partnership with Music Hubs in Liverpool, Harrow and Somerset. The work is neurodivergent-led, with an autistic lead artist embedded in the team to shape creative direction and access.

The conference session will also reflect on a current AHRC-funded research collaboration between Live Music Now and the University of South Wales building on this pilot work. Outputs from the research project will include a film that shares the voices and experiences of autistic young people, alongside publications for both general and academic audiences. We will also create a resource to support music-making in autism resource base settings, with a focus on flexible, child-centred values that encourage creative and collaborative approaches to music education.

Below are some insights from the pilot work which are shaping our journey into the AHRC-funded research collaboration and into devising this resource. They are grounded in autistic and broader neurodivergent perspectives. These are some accessible and achievable suggestions on how any practitioner can develop an inclusive and accessible space for creativity and music making to flourish with autistic pupils.

How to adapt music-making for Autism Resource Bases

In autism resource bases, our job is to make the music feel safe, predictable and genuinely optional—so young people can choose to meet it on their own terms. We are not trying to make the music simpler; we’re reducing the demand around it. When the environment is clear and the offer is consistent, students explore music making with curiosity and agency.

Start with regulation and predictability

Make time visible. Use Now/Next/Finished or simple visual schedules; cross items off together so transitions are concrete and shared. Visual supports also help learners express preference and choice.

Keep the music rich and the thinking light

Strong frames. Drones, pentatonic scales and call-and-response allow immediate musical success and keep play central.

Lead with play and learner voice

(c) Mark Cox Photography

Playful, child-led interaction is not an “extra”; it’s the engine of engagement. We stay receptive to moments when children choose to explore on their own terms, then meet them musically – matching tempo, mirroring gestures, and extending ideas. In practice this looks like: pacing with a child’s movement, letting a tuff tray become a drum to explore resonance; and building songs from the here-and-now of play. These adaptations lengthen attention, deepen connection, and prepare the ground for group work.

Use special interests as springboards

Special interests (from trains to dinosaurs to specific theme tunes) are powerful sources of motivation, regulation and identity. We ask, listen and personalise. We weave interests into warm-ups, sound design, songwriting, and invite learners to name pieces or lead a section; and in doing so, we allow interests to shape the creative process.

Shape for one-to-one as well as group

We have found that some learners connect most readily one-to-one. Simple chord sequences and name-songs can sustain attention and build connection; moments of turn-taking can emerge here before being explored further in a group setting. Sustained one-to-one play can lead to a first successful group activity with each child engaging in their own way while still part of the ensemble.

When we invest early in relationships, collaborate closely with support staff, and keep routines steady so learners feel safe enough, we notice and value personal, social and musical development.

Safeguarding woven through the music

Before sessions: know the setting’s safeguarding leads and reporting system; risk-assess the room for sensory triggers (lighting, acoustics, instrument choice); and plan visible spaces and clear boundaries. During sessions: use consistent communication tools and allow for regulation breaks. Safety is the foundation of connection and participation.

What we notice

We track indicators of access and autonomy: more self-initiated sound; sustained participation; clearer turn-taking; independent volume control; tolerance of others’ sound; shared attention; and moments of choice-making. Brief, one-line notes after the session are enough to see patterns and celebrate growth over time.

Summary

These strategies are not about diminishing or countering the autistic experience. Instead, they support ways of working that respect and value autistic ways of being, in music and in life, while emphasising the practitioner’s role in removing barriers to participation. Music can offer a vital and safe space for growth and connection.

Images from an 8-week pilot project funded by Youth Music, for Live Music Now South West. Photographer Mark Cox.

To hear more from Alex and Beth about their work, book your ticket to join us at the East Midlands Conference Centre on the 17th and 18th November 2025!