23.7. 1993 Vitoria-Gasteiz / Spain - World Federation of Music Therapy

them all. I tested him on the previous lesson's words.
He remembered them all. I formed sentences with the
cards : these sentences were from the songs. He read
them without hesitation. Maybe his memory was doing
most of the work, so I made up sentences mixing up the
songs, e.g. "Brother John will be coming round the
mountain".
"She'll be ringing the bell for breaskast
""Are you sleeping, my Bonnie, wearing pink
pyjamas ?”
David laughed when he read them. Not only was he
reading, he comprehended too ! I was very proud of
David, and patted him on the back, saying, "Let's go and
show off to the headmistress!". She was a very, very
surprised lady.
One of his teachers planned a sing-song with his
class, and readily agreed to encourage David to play
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the ukelele whilst she played the piano-accordion. He
was nervous of his peers, but his mistakes were
drowned by the piano-accordion and the hearty singing.
He was given a rousing applause, and everyone was
warm with praise and enthusiasm. David was happy : it
was rather pleasant to be admired for a change ! It
certainly helped his image.
I'm not going to say that leaming was easy after
that, and that David lived happily ever after. He had a lot
of hard work ahead of him, for not only was he far
behind his classmates, but English was a foreign
language for him, too. However, it was a beginning.
Music had worked a little miracle. lt had succeeded
where all else had failed. Music was the key that
opened David's door to that wonderful adventure called
-- Reading, and of course, LEARNING.