I plan on using this as my college essay. Any writing help would be appreciated.
Steven trots into the band room at the start of the period, “Hi Beth, I hope Jules will hear me play today. Do you think she will?” His face is beaming at the thought of the beloved band director hearing his progress. I teach an autistic student to play the Contra Alto Clarinet, which is basically a very large and low clarinet. This student, Steven, struggled with clarinet. He had too much air and got overly excited causing a ruckus of squeaks and squawks in the band. The switch has provided both of us with an excellent opportunity,
“I’m not sure, Steven. Why don’t we put your instrument together and start warming up. Then we can talk to Jules about it,” is my response.
With some help, he assembles the instrument and we venture to a practice room. I have our lesson of the day planned out. First, we play the warm up chorale and a scale. Steven tells me “I’m warmed,” and since he has improved since yesterday, we move on.
Some basic articulation and breathing exercises come next. He struggles with those, so I make a note of that and chose some duets that reinforce them. We play a few of those duets and then move on to the band music.
Band music presents the greatest challenge. Steven wants to take it fast, but can’t handle it. We usually compromise. On goes the metronome, “beep, beep, beep,” in alternating high and low pitches, Steven imitates it “beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.” Once I can tell that he has the tempo established, we start. He follows all of the steps to sight reading (even though he’s had the song for weeks), which including naming the key signature and time signature, as well as pointing to all the repeats and other structural elements of the piece. Then we begin. He fumbles through the opening line, and then comes the rest. “one-two, two-two, three-two, four-two…thirty two-two,” we count each measure of rest, and then play again. We play exactly what is written on the page because that’s how he learned music. When we get to the end of the piece, I compliment him, glad to hear improvement and how much of himself he has put into it.
Then, it’s time for a break. Steven needs to get a drink and “take a breather” so we rest for a few minutes, then touch up and speed up parts of the song. Step by step, he improves. Watching his growth brings such joy to me, I leave the room beaming the way he enters the room. Working with Steven reminds me of the simple pleasures in music that I often forget. In counting his rests and accomplishing minor tasks, I remember that music is not the complicated runs that I stress over, but the passion put into each beat of the song and the reward of growth through learning the piece.
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