Kent S Godfrey is an artist, educator, and academic. He connects ideas from various disciplines. His theory is that experiencing tone, rhythm, melody, and harmony through senses in addition to sound produces the benefits associated with the concept “music.” This provides a theoretical basis for his methods of teaching tone, rhythm, melody, and harmony through multiple senses. Kent’s work is particularly applicable to autistic individuals who are sensitive to sound, and Deaf people.

Featured Media

For his Ignite Seattle talk, Kent discussed his innovative methods of teaching tone, rhythm, melody, and harmony to autistic individuals through senses in addition to sound. (5 min, 25sec)

As part of the 3-Minute Thesis competition, Kent gave a broad overview of his doctoral research into how Deaf and autistic people can reap the myriad benefits associated with the concept “music” by experiencing tone, rhythm, melody, and harmony through multiple senses. (3 min)

At TEDxSanJuanIsland, Kent described his experiences in the Peace Corps. As he taught creative movement to Deaf students, he realized that he was teaching the components of music (tone, rhythm, melody, and harmony) kinesthetically. (17min, 50sec)

This is an informal video in which Kent takes viewers on a nature walk. It provides a very basic explanation of how rhythm is experienced in nature through multiple senses. These principles can be applied to tone, melody, and harmony as well. (1 minute, 15 sec)