See Ya Later Alligator

here's a video of  our hello song during a session: http://ecpcdc.blogspot.com/2011/03/see-you-later-and-thank-you.html

(posted publicly on the sites webpage, permission given)

practicum

It was bitter sweet to have our second to last session today.  They have been going so well and we have been very well received by the clients and the staff!  I feel like I am getting to know the clients pretty well by now.  Last week during the hello song I noticed a certain client who always has her hands closed really tight.  When I tried to assist her playing the guitar her knuckles were the only part facing the strings.  I thought I would try something new next time.  So….today I brought in the large guitar pick for her to hold and play the strings.  It was still a little tricky with her wheel chair table  in the way but it was definitely better than last week.  I was very happy about that and I think she appreciated it as well.  Today we got a little bit of practice with behavior management.  None of the clients ever really “misbehave” but sometimes they say things you might not expect.  When Ayal was singing “shake shake shake….shake shake shake…shake your shakers” one of the clients was singing “shake your booty” and then asked Ayal why we don’t sing it the correct way.  I thought he dealt with it really well and he agreed that we could sing it with the actual lyrics and then sing it “our” way after.

 Another interesting thing I noticed during today’s session was that during the same song that was sung two weeks ago, the same client got very emotional again.  There was no mistake that she was very outwardly sad and upset.  I thought my supervisor handled it very well by asking if she liked the song to make sure it wasn’t upsetting her too much.  She nodded her head and we continued to sing.  It is hard to see her look like she’s in so much emotional pain though. 

                Toward the end of the session I had the privilege of closing it with my “See You Later Alligator” song, then I spoke a little about how next week would be our last week there and I had to answer to one of the clients who asked why.  I explained that as students we need to get practice doing music with lots of people and that other students want to come meet them as well.  He seemed to accept that.  I then sort of winged the goodbye song.  (I forgot that I was supposed to do it…) But…I was lucky and figured out the chords in my head ahead of time and it went fine.  Overall it was a great session.