Songs from Italy
Therapeutic Singing Students: Max’s Story Continued…..
That first lesson showed Max that he could definitely sing and that there was nothing physically that meant he couldn’t sing in tune.
Transforming Negative Thoughts
When he came for his next lesson he told me that he’d had quite a lot of negative thoughts and worries popping up – almost as if there was a bunch of people in his head who didn’t want him to continue. This was a brilliant sign! It meant that all that destructive energy was becoming separate from his inner, positive and hopeful self. The thoughts were out there chatting away still but the noise they made was getting fainter. We carried on with more singing together, more freeing up of the body, to show that we could get on very well without them.
As the therapeutic singing lessons were so useful to him Max decided to come for regular lessons. Gradually the negative thoughts shrank away and the freed up energy allowed him to think about his life and how he might turn things around for the better. This lasted about three months in all.
Singing in a new language
Max learned not only to sing his old Elvis songs with the guitar but I persuaded him to sing some Italian folk songs too. He knew no Italian at all but was willing to give it a go. Once he started to realise that not only could he sing in another language but that it gave him real psychological freedom, he knew he was well on the way to recovery. He joined a beginners Italian evening class which meant he had to scale down his singing lessons but they had done the job!
Great Outcome
I occasionally hear from Max still. He’s happy, singing with his guitar and he’s moved out of London to somewhere he feels more at home.