A Week of Crazy, Random Happenstances...
This week was just plain surreal. You know, one of those weeks when everything is just a bit off? It wasn't necessarily a bad week, but there were some strange things happening all around me.
Some of the things that have been happening can probably be chalked up to end-of-the-year school situations. The paraprofessional who deliberately defied me in a music therapy session will not do that again - I'm sure that she just wasn't thinking (ULTRA SARCASM HERE!). In addition, the series of hysterically giggling music therapy clients were probably just feeling the excitement of being near the end of the year (I'm not at all upset about the giggling - it was contagious and uplifting, especially after insubordination!).
Some of the situations were not related to the school year at all.
Two days ago, the construction company working on a new assisted living facility down the road opted to cut a 6 foot wide ditch in the only road to both my facility and another facility. The only road, mind you! Of course, they decided to cut through the road 15 minutes before the buses arrived to drop off our day students. They had filled in a ditch with gravel, but neglected to consider the effect of a car's weight on a pile of gravel. So... as the first bus pulled up, there were a bunch of construction guys staring at a car that had started through the gravel pile, started a huge erosion problem, became stuck, and blocked the only option for entering not one, but TWO major businesses in the town.
The bus line backed up quickly. We had to use the parking lot of another facility to unload kids from their buses. Then, we had to walk our students (many of them with multiple symptoms associated with their diagnoses and who are VERY resistant to changes in routine) past a 20-foot pile of dirt, through the soaked grass, around the bulldozers, and up to the school building. Now, some of the teachers were in their classrooms, doing their normal morning routine, but many of them were helping with the buses. This led to further interruptions of routines as students had to go to places where they could be supervised.
The afternoon bus routine included walkie-talkies, the principals out in the street directing traffic, and more hysteria as we had to bodily stop drivers in their vehicles from driving around the variety of roadblocks and people directing traffic. (It is amazing how many drivers seem to think that they don't have to follow directions!) I had an opportunity to calm the principal down after a consultant blatantly zoomed past all of the staff, both of the principals, and placed some of our students in danger! (It probably didn't help that the consultant showed up in a Porsche Carrera and just zoomed past everyone with a cutesy wave when we tried to stop her!)
I got yelled at for not being out at the buses 20 minutes early when the situation first started. I explained that no one had informed me that there was a problem, and that I had actually started my bus duty 10 minutes earlier than the other two bus duty people. The person who yelled at me stated that she had some problems with kids who looked at her and asked, "But, where's Mary Jane?" They didn't think that she should be taking them off the bus and wanted to see me (I guess to know that it was fine that this semi-stranger was interrupting their routine). Fortunately, by this time, I had seen the complete absurdity of the entire situation and had moved into laughter.
Later in the day, I had a music therapy session with my students who have multiple medical issues. All of these clients are nonverbal. Most use wheelchairs for ambulation, and all have wonderful senses of humor. I enjoy the classroom session immensely. All of the students are day students, so the entire classroom had been through the bus room fiasco. Their buses had to go to an alternate parking lot at the north side of the facility because there was no way that their wheelchairs could manage to cross the gravel pit, the ditch to get to the grass, or the wet, grassy fields between drop-off and school. They had had an adventure getting to school. So, we wrote a song about the morning of "Our Crazy Day."
Using a basic blues pattern, we started to write the lyrics. When I got here this morning, the bus couldn't get through because the construction company had ruined the road... It went on and on about how the bus driver had to turn the bus around and take everyone on another drive. We finished the first verse describing how it was just the start of a very crazy day. After we finished the lyrics, it was time to improvise!
Each student chose what to do during the improvisation. One student opted for the drum set - he really likes the cymbals more than anything else! Two students indicated that they wanted keyboard instruments, and the last student in the group decided to use the microphone. I found my camera, and we started to make music.
It was wonderful! A group of kids that do not usually get much credit for being able to do anything (but only by those folks who do not know these kids!!) made music together! The musical accompaniment for our song ended up being perfect for the song itself as well as for the day - at times chaotic, disorganized, and crazy! Eventually the music became more coherent and communal. They found their group groove. It was a wonderful experience for me, both as a music therapist and as a part of that musical community.
I am so happy that I was able to film the students doing their thing. While I am not able to share any of the experience with anyone outside of the facility, I was able to share the experience with their classroom teacher and demonstrate what music can do to help those with the quietest voices express their thoughts and emotions. In addition, we captured some of the fun that we had.
Music therapy moments like the one described above are what keep me going. I can deal with the insubordinate paraprofessionals (though a particular one will not be welcome in my sessions again), the often ridiculous demands from administrators, the lack of budget, and the problems with equipment because I get to watch my clients make music in their own way every day. In case you haven't figured it out by now, I LOVE MY JOB!
Happy music making, everyone! Keep singing,even when especially when things around you are absolutely crazy!
Some of the things that have been happening can probably be chalked up to end-of-the-year school situations. The paraprofessional who deliberately defied me in a music therapy session will not do that again - I'm sure that she just wasn't thinking (ULTRA SARCASM HERE!). In addition, the series of hysterically giggling music therapy clients were probably just feeling the excitement of being near the end of the year (I'm not at all upset about the giggling - it was contagious and uplifting, especially after insubordination!).
Some of the situations were not related to the school year at all.
Two days ago, the construction company working on a new assisted living facility down the road opted to cut a 6 foot wide ditch in the only road to both my facility and another facility. The only road, mind you! Of course, they decided to cut through the road 15 minutes before the buses arrived to drop off our day students. They had filled in a ditch with gravel, but neglected to consider the effect of a car's weight on a pile of gravel. So... as the first bus pulled up, there were a bunch of construction guys staring at a car that had started through the gravel pile, started a huge erosion problem, became stuck, and blocked the only option for entering not one, but TWO major businesses in the town.
The bus line backed up quickly. We had to use the parking lot of another facility to unload kids from their buses. Then, we had to walk our students (many of them with multiple symptoms associated with their diagnoses and who are VERY resistant to changes in routine) past a 20-foot pile of dirt, through the soaked grass, around the bulldozers, and up to the school building. Now, some of the teachers were in their classrooms, doing their normal morning routine, but many of them were helping with the buses. This led to further interruptions of routines as students had to go to places where they could be supervised.
The afternoon bus routine included walkie-talkies, the principals out in the street directing traffic, and more hysteria as we had to bodily stop drivers in their vehicles from driving around the variety of roadblocks and people directing traffic. (It is amazing how many drivers seem to think that they don't have to follow directions!) I had an opportunity to calm the principal down after a consultant blatantly zoomed past all of the staff, both of the principals, and placed some of our students in danger! (It probably didn't help that the consultant showed up in a Porsche Carrera and just zoomed past everyone with a cutesy wave when we tried to stop her!)
I got yelled at for not being out at the buses 20 minutes early when the situation first started. I explained that no one had informed me that there was a problem, and that I had actually started my bus duty 10 minutes earlier than the other two bus duty people. The person who yelled at me stated that she had some problems with kids who looked at her and asked, "But, where's Mary Jane?" They didn't think that she should be taking them off the bus and wanted to see me (I guess to know that it was fine that this semi-stranger was interrupting their routine). Fortunately, by this time, I had seen the complete absurdity of the entire situation and had moved into laughter.
Later in the day, I had a music therapy session with my students who have multiple medical issues. All of these clients are nonverbal. Most use wheelchairs for ambulation, and all have wonderful senses of humor. I enjoy the classroom session immensely. All of the students are day students, so the entire classroom had been through the bus room fiasco. Their buses had to go to an alternate parking lot at the north side of the facility because there was no way that their wheelchairs could manage to cross the gravel pit, the ditch to get to the grass, or the wet, grassy fields between drop-off and school. They had had an adventure getting to school. So, we wrote a song about the morning of "Our Crazy Day."
Using a basic blues pattern, we started to write the lyrics. When I got here this morning, the bus couldn't get through because the construction company had ruined the road... It went on and on about how the bus driver had to turn the bus around and take everyone on another drive. We finished the first verse describing how it was just the start of a very crazy day. After we finished the lyrics, it was time to improvise!
Each student chose what to do during the improvisation. One student opted for the drum set - he really likes the cymbals more than anything else! Two students indicated that they wanted keyboard instruments, and the last student in the group decided to use the microphone. I found my camera, and we started to make music.
It was wonderful! A group of kids that do not usually get much credit for being able to do anything (but only by those folks who do not know these kids!!) made music together! The musical accompaniment for our song ended up being perfect for the song itself as well as for the day - at times chaotic, disorganized, and crazy! Eventually the music became more coherent and communal. They found their group groove. It was a wonderful experience for me, both as a music therapist and as a part of that musical community.
I am so happy that I was able to film the students doing their thing. While I am not able to share any of the experience with anyone outside of the facility, I was able to share the experience with their classroom teacher and demonstrate what music can do to help those with the quietest voices express their thoughts and emotions. In addition, we captured some of the fun that we had.
Music therapy moments like the one described above are what keep me going. I can deal with the insubordinate paraprofessionals (though a particular one will not be welcome in my sessions again), the often ridiculous demands from administrators, the lack of budget, and the problems with equipment because I get to watch my clients make music in their own way every day. In case you haven't figured it out by now, I LOVE MY JOB!
Happy music making, everyone! Keep singing,
Comments
Post a Comment