Natalie (12 yrs) was referred to music therapy a few months after her Gramma died. Gramma had lived with the family and had been very close with Natalie, who was deeply grieving her loss. She was extremely shy and found it difficult to express herself, but she loved music.
During our first session, she told me that she sings in her bedroom a lot, but she never sings in front of anyone. In our first session I asked, “What do you want to do?”and the reply was,“Have a song about my Gramma in my words.”
Natalie wrote a song, with a keyboard introduction written and performed by herself. The lyrics were completely her own, the melody a joint effort between us. We had a total of four sessions together and when it came to recording the song on our third session, at first I sang along with Natalie to support her (and to begin with, she needed to hide behind a screen to find the courage to sing anything!), but she overcame her fears and embarrassment in order to sing solo, because, “This is my song for Gramma and I want to do it for her”.
At the end of our fourth and final session, Natalie’s mom came into the music room and listened to the recording. There were tears and hugs between mom and daughter. As they left, mom said, “Has Natalie told you what she did last week?”. They had been on a family holiday and she had entered the talent competition and sung in front of everyone! Mom was very proud and linked Natalie’s growth in self-confidence to our work in the music therapy sessions.
Natalie left with a huge smile on her face saying that she had already started writing another song on her own!
I WISH THAT YOU WERE HERE
It’s okay to let your feelings show
Every night and day I cry
I can’t let you go
It’s okay to be afraid, you know
Every night and day I cry
I can’t let you go
(CHORUS)
I wish that you were here with me
You’re still a part of our family
I wish that you were here with me
I’d see you every day
Your smile lighted up my face
Your laughter brightened up the place
Your hug told me everything would be okay
And that’s what I miss about you
(CHORUS) I wish that you were here….
Comments