“It’s time to sing goodbye”…. We have
been singing this every day for the past five weeks so we should be
prepared! However Dr. Sundhima, who set up ARMS, said it’s
just the beginning when we spoke to her about the training earlier
this week.

In the final week as we sat back and observed the teachers
facilitating the groups there was a chance to begin to let go and
see things from a slightly different perspective. Could we learn
something about boundaries in time and space from the teachers
here? Keep to time, hold the boundaries but follow the children – a
constant mantra from us throughout the project – however we learn a
lot from those that push these very boundaries as they seek to
assert themselves and challenge the group. Apparently in Hindi the
word for tomorrow is the same as the word for yesterday! Maybe in
the end being in place and on time, prepared to let go, is the most
important feature.

The week ended with a presentation to a group of around thirty
people, a mixture of parents and professionals. Ishweri, the head
teacher at ARMS and Dr. Sundhima had been keen from the first week
to bring interested parties together to hear about the experiences
of the training at ARMS and Patashala. Somesh and I both presented
on the work as well as the parents and teachers from Patashala
school and the ARMS centre. Despite this being quite a formal
setting there were at least four children from the school there
making it a truly inclusive event, and it was the first time the
teachers from Patashala had visited the ARMS centre!

With reference to the 2014 Music as Therapy
International Annual Report at the presentation we could point
to the work in Romania which started twenty years ago and this
suggested that Dr.Sundhima might be correct when she said it was
just the beginning!!

We’ve packed our bags and are ready to go.
“are you sure you have not left anything” someone
says. We certainly hope so….

Alastair & Somesh