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[Sunday Soul Food] The Music of Your Soul
In 2010, I had the unique pleasure of hearing the music of my soul for the first. This experience came about at a time in my life when I needed something more than what I was already experiencing.
Seeing The Humor In The Spiritual
I have often taken this “life” too seriously. Getting too caught up in the illusions of what I believed to be real. So much so that I often lost sight of the glimpses of wonder and amazement that permeated everything I experienced.
A Prayer of Miracles
With eyes closed, and your heart open… do not attempt to understand the words. Simply feel them.
One Love… for Autism.
My son LOVES him some Bob Marley! Seriously!
Now, some of you probably turned your nose up when you read that, and that’s okay. I’m thinking you probably don’t know much about Bob or his music, and that’s okay too.
Allow me to shed some light on that which you do not know…
Bob makes my son sing… at the top of his lungs and with emotion!
Bob makes my son sway to the beat!
Bob encourages my son to read. If there are lyrics in the album cover, my son can be found reading them.
And I credit Bob for much of the spontaneous speech that my son has spoken this year.
Here’s a little more of that which you probably do not know.
Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited for helping spread Jamaican music to the worldwide audience.
The compilation album, Legend, released in 1984, three years after his death, is the best-selling reggae album ever (10 times platinum[3]), with sales of more than 12 million copies.
Marley suffered racial prejudice as a youth, because of his mixed racial origins and faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life. He once reflected:
“I don’t have prejudice against meself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don’t dip on nobody’s side. Me don’t dip on the black man’s side nor the white man’s side. Me dip on God’s side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.”
Bob was not afraid to talk religion, politics, or philosophy in his music. His music has transcended color lines and racial bearers, and it continues to gain new listeners/lovers/appreciators of his work… year after year.
Yes, he smoked… ummm, a particular plant, but what exactly does that have to do with anything?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Music has been proven to enhance speech in children on the spectrum.
My son choose Bob to help him with his language “issues”.
The following song is one we sing together. It is part of a speech by Haile Selassie I that Bob put to music!
To hear a 7 year old sing this song with such conviction is, well, amazing!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-TMkpBKsMU&hl=en&fs=1]
Music to My Ears.
I’ve heard a lot about what music therapy can do for a child on The Spectrum. I’ve heard that a child on The Spectrum has perfect pitch because they hear music differently than the rest of us. I’ve heard music therapy “brings a child out of autism”.
With so many positives being spoken about music therapy, I do not understand why it isn’t available in every state so that every child has access to it.
I once lived in very progressive states (i.e. Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island). I had access to every possible therapy and state resource. I moved and those resources feel by the wayside. I’ve since stopped kicking myself for moving.
I know live in a state that’s been playing catch up for a while. It has well over a 3-year wait list for much-needed services. 3 years! Do you realize how much valuable therapeutic time a child loses? They lose 3 years… if not more.
I don’t know when exactly autism became a household name. It’s sad to say that it’s become one at all, but it has nonetheless.
I also don’t know why some states have while others have not. Or is it merely a case of some states caring more than others? I hope it is the former, because the latter denotes a rather cruel intention.
I don’t understand why any state wouldn’t want to offer the very best to every child in its care.
As a resident of a state that’s slowly coming around, it is up to me to ensure my son receives whatever therapies that will benefit him. Even, if I have to shell out the big duckets to do so.
Good grief! I’m ranting again. My apologies.
I brought up music therapy to introduce you to a child who has greatly benefited from it. You may already know his name, you may not.
Don’t see him as a child who has autism. See him as a child who’s “got talent”!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJnjPnk9ASc&hl=en&fs=1]