Regarding your response to music, I certainly agree with you about some people thinking that only so-called ‘classical’ will do, and will only play this type of music when children come into and leave assembly. I was always looking for different types of music to get a response.

One thing I would like to see is children exposed to more live music. They just love it when a teacher plays the guitar and sings (the school piano doesn’t always have the same effect, for some reason).
Trevor Stevens, who I mentioned in my posts about sleep, worked with me in a special school, and he has a real gift of speaking to children through his guitar playing. Steve Grocott, who I have also worked with, is a mandolin player and he also has the same impact on very young children.
Best wishes
Michael
PS I’ve just finished this weekend’s post about Janis Joplin and Cat Stevens!

On the plus side it did take me quite a long time to realise that potentially the reason I have such strong reactions to music is that I don’t have much of a response to visual stimuli.My brain has compensated. Music moves me more now than it ever did. Some music makes me cry some moves me in other emotional and intellectual ways. It’s not all positive though:My most unappealing habit is a complete intolerance for some music or the artists that produce it. I literally feel myself becoming angry at music that I decide is vacuous or at music that I really like being played too softly.
Some music actually makes me furious: That somebody should have bothered….I have horrible musical prejudices
I am also extremely intolerant of the implicit view held in some circles that Classical music is “real music” and the rest of music may be charming etc but not as “good” as it isn’t as complicated or technically sophisticated.

I’m always banging on in these responses about sensory modulation and how important background “noise” is. But your (as usual excellent post) makes us all think that colour can be “noise” too. Witness very bland plain classrooms for some pupils with ASC for whom some visual busyness can be, at worst deeply distressing and at best extremely distracting.
Keep up the good work Michael
Tim

Funny story about the Spice Girls: at the height of their popularity we took my young daughter and a group of her friends to see a Spice Girls tribute act as a birthday treat. They had a great time, especially when ‘Ginger’ got my daughter on stage during the closing number to join in. A year or so later my daughter made a comment about this night out that made my husband and I realise that she thought she had seen the real Spice Girls. My husband and I gave each other worried looks but kept quiet. We did own up when she was in her late teens, but it was like a child finding out Father Christmas doesn’t exist.

Looking forward to a bit of Janis Joplin

I’m glad you like my posts. I have a notebook with ideas, that are often sparked off by a song, or something from YouTube. Then I link that to an idea I have about communication. I chip away at it during the week and then have it all finished by the weekend.
Edmund, who looks after my website, puts it all together for me on a Saturday morning.
I was on a long haul flight to Bangkok recently, and I was listening to their music selection, and Janis Joplin was on there. This got me to thinking about one of her songs, so my next post might be about that. However I got lost in Bangkok when a taxi driver dropped me at the wrong place, so I might write about that instead!
Best wishes
Michael

Otherwise, I say wear yellow and be proud of it!

Your blogs are so much fun to read. How long does it take for you to write each of them?