A new phase
Well I think I knew that ‘Get a Life Fund’ was helping me embark on something life-changing. It seems to have happened as I played my final concert as Principal Horn of the Ulster Orchestra just a week and a half ago!
I made the decision to leave and re-focus my life on working with children with severe learning difficulties and autism during the first months of 2010. Trying to juggle horn-playing, working with the children and studying became more and more untenable through the winter. I began to feel that after 31 years in the orchestra, that work was the one that was calling to me least, in fact there was a clear sense of wanting to lay down the horn and its triumphs and struggles in order to be freer to focus on the other two areas. As the decision was made I felt a deep sense of peace and found a mysterious grin coming to my features each time I talked about it. I have loved being a horn-player at this level, and I do wonder how much I will miss it once I have stopped. The 3 months of my notice period have been a super time of really enjoying playing – my final main season concert including my favourite Tchaikovsky 5th Symphony solo!
The study has gone well, my fourth and final assignment of the year earning me an “A” with 80%! The next year is very interesting as it contains a research project based on my own work in the school which will form the basis of my dissertation. I have been very fortunate to meet and be encouraged by Dr. Pamela Heaton of Goldsmith’s, University of London, who is a leading researcher in music and autism and has guided my initial thinking about the project.
The work at school has also been very exciting – a number of the children making significant progress. One young lady who had made great strides with the Music Therapist the previous year and had moved from silence to “ba-ba” in her good-bye song now plays a number of melodies and vocalises several vowel sounds. She gave us huge delight at the end of the year as she sat at the piano and played and “sang” “Twinkle twinkle little star”. A young man who began the year hiding behind his arm and playing only a bass note or two from a remote retreat in his own world, has journeyed in music-making and relationship to an interactive learning environment where he looks to my lead and his single bass note has grown to playing the bass-line for “Circle of Life”! In his final session of the year he attempted playing with both hands at the same time!
Also through Dr. Heaton’s encouragement I have begun to look for others to be part of a network of those who work with music with people with autism. My personal experience and that of others I am now meeting is of a difficulty in finding information and help in this area. My guess is that there are individuals doing good work all over the country but no connections between them/us and therefore a very limited sharing of expertise.
Again I owe the Get a Life Fund a huge debt of thanks for enabling me to start on this journey in which I have been able to taste a new world and discover a giftedness for it whilst continuing in my previous work. And now I can feel confident because of this to leap into a new phase of life!
Posted by Chris Blake on July 6th, 2010.
