Singing the Blues

This week was my first session with a kid I'll call "J."

J is an adolescent with a moderate intellectual disability, intense difficulty with impulse control, poor emotional regulation, and issues with social interaction. He attends group music therapy sessions weekly and has been one of my students in adaptive drum lessons. He has always asked to "sing the blues," and I felt that now was the time!

We started on Tuesday.

He seemed a bit confused when I asked him to come with me at an unusual time, but ambled down the hall with me. I explained that we were going to meet together weekly to "sing the blues." He looked at me like I was slightly off-center, but agreed to try it out.

Now, when I have individual kids in the music room, I let them choose the direction of our sessions. They have to figure out something to do, and then I have to figure out how to make their choices work within their individual goals and objectives. It is a pretty good system - they are interested in what we are doing, and I am NEVER bored!

J entered and walked right to the drum set. He decided he wanted to drum. I sat at the piano and started the blues set - c, f, e-flat, c. He started to sing.
Drums forgotten, all attention on singing. J spent the rest of our 25-minute session simply singing. We went through three common chord progressions. Each song was different in tone and content. He was able to sing stories, keep on a single topic, and demonstrate that music was able to focus his attention in a way that nothing else seems to do.

Sometimes you just gotta "sing the blues."

Thanks, J. See you on Tuesday!!