At work, I received an email today from one of our special ed. preschool teachers and she asked if she could bring one of her students down to play the piano. I told her I had plan period at 2:30 and SURE, come on down! I had no idea what was up. So, 2:30 comes and she comes down with Denim, this little boy that has several things going on (blind, probably autistic among other things). He can communicate, but very little. He normally cannot focus on a task for long and has sensory issues (loud music bothers him, etc).
So, his teacher brought him down and we sat at my piano. She explained that his mother had called the school today and asked if we use a piano with him at school...and we don't. So, she further explained that Mom said he was with a friend, and apparently walked up to the piano and began playing (mom wasn't with him) and the friend called and said he could play piano. The boy has NEVER had a piano lesson in his life and never touched one until 2 days ago.
We sat at my piano, and sang songs to him and then asked him to play. He repeated them back to us near PERFECT! It did not matter if we were in an easy key or hard key signature....he matched us precisely! He played the piano with his little fingers with the dexterity that many NEVER get even with years of lessons. He could finish songs we started that he hears on a regular basis (Star Spangled Banner, etc). His teacher and I sat with him and had tears streaming down our faces as we watched and listened in complete AWE! I even played a few classical type things (melodies of Fur Elise and such) and HE PLAYED THEM BACK!
It has BY FAR been the most profound moment of my teaching career to experience this. I have seen young children like this on tv shows. They have some sort of big disability (brain problems typically) yet they can play the piano perfectly without any training. They do it all by ear and touch. Most of the time they can listen to a very difficult piece of music then repeat it back near perfect! Watching his fingers caress the keys and instantly correct his mistakes.....WOW.
So, we are going to get his mother in to see me this week, and to see him do this. It is a MAJOR breakthrough for us to his brain. He may never ever have the skills of reading, writing or math, but he has this incredible gift of music that I can only explain as being put there by God. The boy will never sit still and do an activity for longer than a few minutes before getting agitated and upset, but he sat with me for over an hour. He absolutely loved it and it was that kind of moment that I know is rarely experienced by simple music teachers. Something unlocked in his brain and we are so excited to see what all he will be able to do with this gift. I have set up with his teacher for him to come see me each week for some time and I want to work with him more. We are going to tell his Mom she must get a piano or a keyboard for home for him and look into if a piano teacher can be found for him that has experience working with special needs children. He cannot be taught n the traditional way....his brain already holds all of that somehow.
I will be videotaping him next week too so his mother can share with family members. We cannot have too many people in the room besides us because it will overwhelm him.
HIS one single child and event has validated my dedication to music for ALL. Is this the gift God wanted me to see and be a part of by placing me in this school with these kids? Is this why I had to go through all that junk so I could land there and be there to see such wonder? Even if it wasn't part of the overall plan for me, I would not trade that hour for anything in the entire world! It isn't every day that you find a way to let a child's soul free. He smiled as he played and loved hearing himself. I could just go on forever and ever.
HAPPY SIGH!
After that, I went up to church to work the fish fry and then decorate for the banquet tomorrow night. We chose a red, white and blue theme and oh it looks nice! I will take some pictures tomorrow of my masterpiece! We were there until 10:30 pm. I am going to run tomorrow and try to find some sparkly tall floral things to use on the tables. The ceiling is so high that our centerpieces may look even better with an element of tallness. The girls helped and so did several other people. We came up with a neat way to fold the napkins and I was shocked that Abbi sat at a table, looked at one then figured out how to do it herself. Just another wonder in an already amazing day! It was easy to find things for the kids to do and without them we'd still be up there! My feet hurt!
Oh yeah, and the forecast changed DRASTICALLY! We are supposed to get 3-5 inches of SNOW tomorrow afternoon/evening...WHAT THE HECK?!?!?! It was 74 degrees yesterday.
I mentioned that I figured I wouldn't sleep through the night last night due to storms....well they arrived sometime around 4 am and yep....both girls in my room and me awake. That is 3 nights I have slept poorly. But hey...who cares when you have such a great day? Wonder if I'll make it through tonight???
I will never forget today, I just don't want to. Witnessing a miracle in music with a young child. He kept saying..."I play plano, I play plano" (he pronounced it wrong, but that is ok).
BATH TIME, I need a good soak tonight.
I am down 9 pounds officially, I knew it wasn't a great week but I am happy to have lost SOMETHING! I hope to really be able and focus this next week.
Oh yeah, bath. Off I go.
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