Pianorama

When the twins were little I used to walk up to our local shopping centre regularly with them. Ond day a tall woman with long black hair had set up a table in our suburban centre peddling her music school. On a whim I approached her. Now my family LOVE music - always have. I can't sing a note and tried but failed to learn the guitar as a teenager. DH loves music too - and he actually can play guitar and at the moment enjoys writing lyrics and music too. He has a few other friends he plays with for fun and has been in the 'work band'. I didn't know anything about ways of teaching music except what I had read in a book about Ellie - a young girl with DS whose Mum got her lessons in the 'suzuki method' to help her learn the piano. I had by this time learned about the wonderful Sujeet Desai too - so I knew it was very 'doable' but wasn't sure of the 'how' - besides they were very young.

Miss M was lovely. When I asked specifically whether it would be ok for Hannah - she said someting along the lines of "What is DS?" I explained a bit about her low muscle tone and speech delay. "Nevermind I'm sure she'll be fine. We have other kids with special needs like autism. We'll learn as we go." "Yep, she'll be fine." - or at least those snatches of our conversation linger in my memory. She was right on all counts - it was fine and we all learnt as we went along.

Now there was Beeboppers for 2 year olds - with lots of movement and percussion and Jitterbugs for 3 year olds which was more of the same really with the addition of the 'music house' for beginning to read music/rhythm. I still recall the day DH took the brats to music cos I had changed the class to Saturdays for a semester - he came out flabbergasted - I'd told him - but seeing it was quite different. She really was one of the best in the class. She LOVED the movement and the singing and the actions used in the songs. She had a ball.

This year at 4 they started Pianorama - now it is trickier. She isn't the 'best' in the class by a long shot. She still has fun and enjoys it. There is still movement and actions which she manages well. There is percussion too. They are also learning to 'read' music - she can recognise 'doh'. They are learning the keyboard - now Han can play with her right hand (Mrs Treble Clef) adequately - it requires a lot of fine motor skills to isolate each finger to play doh, reh, mi, fa, soh. But she gets it and tries her best. The left hand is harder for her to get the necessary control and strength to play with but she gives that a go with occassional success. Just now at the end of the year they are beginning to use both hands together - she doesn't really get that yet at all. Regularly each child stands in front of the group and says "My name is xxx, and I'm going to play yyy." and then they 'solo' a song they have been learning - Hannah LOVES to solo.

The classes have always had a rapid pace that she has had to work to keep up with but she generally manages that well. She is learning and developing - oral skills, motor skills, concentration, listening, reading and counting to name a few. Still it is sometimes hard to watch her have to 'fit in' all the time to work so hard to 'keep up' with the regualr kids. Recently they had their first 'concert performance'. She and her brother were really excited and did beautifully. DH and I LOVED watching them. I snuck up on stage to kneel beside Hannah to 'help' her with the 'Mr Bass Clef' bits.

The following week I spoke to Miss M about next year. DH and I had been discussing it. We really want her to be able to continue as we can see her learning so much from it - but at the same time we can see that she will keep falling behind her typical peers. We discussed the option of getting her private lessons if necessary - one of their former music teachers has been on mat leave - perhaps she'd be ready to work with Hannah using something like what they already do but modified a bit for her? The drawback of that was she actually benefits from the group stuff - and a lot of the activities are designed for small groups - I decided to discuss it with Miss M.

When I approached her the twins were in the middle of their lesson with Miss A and Miss M was doing paperwork at the front desk that is in the classroom. "I was just thinking about that!" she said when I approached her. Anyways the decision is for the twins to have back to back lessons on a Saturday - Kit to go to level 2 book and Hannah to stay on Level 1 book. Miss M says it will be different songs etc so she won't be just 'repeating' the current book although the skills they teach will be the same.

We'll see what happens from there - but what I am happy about is that we got to that point. From 'what is ds?' to the teacher knowing Hannah, seeing her strengths and weaknesses clearly and coming up with a plan on how to best meet those needs. Fantastic - that is what I hope will happen at school too - cos I do have a wee concern that the princiapl doesn't really beleive Han will 'cope' there for very long - yet I know of other kids who have been able to stay in a mainstream class for all of primary - if the school thinks like Miss M does then that may just be 'doable' too!
Here's the address for our music classes http://www.ismaustralia.com/