Southern View: April 22, 2021

SOUTHERN VIEW Thursday April 22 2021 11
with disabilities
“Looking back, I have probably
seen a miracle every day,” she
said.
“There was one little boy on
the autistic spectrum, aged four.
He looked like an angel and
had the most incredible voice.
Nobody was seeing anything
cognitively, but music seemed to
make a remarkable impact on
him.
“This little boy has such strong
musicality. I asked his mother to
play him Mozart and he stood
with his ear to the radio.”
A parent could be full of grief,
but “something hilarious” could
happen during the music session.
“The parent then has a good
belly laugh and comments that
they haven’t laughed like that
since the baby was born,” Wylie
said.
“It’s a cathartic experience for
parent and child.”
Many graduates of the centre
who once used music as a form of
therapy have gone on to pursue it
either in their careers or through
study.
Graduate Thomas Eves is
now the chief trumpeter at the
Christchurch Symphony Orchestra,
and Jasmine Butcher was
studying music at university, she
said.
“Another boy, Rohan Soper,
aged 17, who was born premature,
has been learning percussion and
has sat an exam through Trinity
College,” Wylie said.
“India Neville, now 21, is
studying at a music academy in
Canada.”
‘I’ve done everything
I’ve been asked to and
wanted to do, and now
it’s time to bow out.’
– Julie Wylie
Just because Wylie was retiring
from the centre, it did not mean
she was saying goodbye to the
world of music forever.
She will continue to run her
music school, the Julie Wylie
Institute of Musical Play, and
educate the next generation of
therapists through the Postgraduate
Certificate in the Psychology
of Musical Play – a qualification
she developed.
“When I started at the
Champion Centre, I was crying
out, ‘please consider music.’ Now
wherever I go, people are singing
and using music,” she said.
“I’ve done everything I’ve been
asked to and wanted to do, and
now it’s time to bow out.”
The Garden City Rotary
McDonalds Youth Duathlon
was held at South Hagley Park
last Sunday, 1200 seven to
15-year-olds took part in the
24th running of the annual
event.
It is the major fundraiser
for Garden City Rotary,
to support Rotary Youth
programmes and a new
venture – Youth Hub
Christchurch.
It will be built in the city
with a vision to enable all
young people in Otautahi
THRILL: Toby
Hair and
Francesca Russ
with Garden
City Rotary
duathlon
committee
member, Gavin
Walter after
receiving their
bikes. ​
Big turnout at youth duathlon
the opportunity to lead
healthy, safe and valued lives,
fulfilling their potential and
vibrantly contributing to their
community.
Two lucky draw bike
winners were Francesca Russ, 7,
and Toby Hair, 12.
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