I wanted to share with you a blog written by Nicky Bodily who joined us last year. She has such passion for the role and thinks outside the box and we will be using the skills learnt by Sarah and herself on the day to encourage other people we support to 'find their voice' and enjoy new opportunities.
Thanks
Louise Taylor
Head of Service
Milton Keynes Lifelong Learning
For some people, singing is a passion. Others find it embarrassing or think they can’t sing. In November, I was delighted to be able to support Sarah to participate in a singing course run by Community Learning MK, the adult education branch of Milton Keynes Council. The courses are open to all members of the public.
Sarah, like me, loves to sing, so I was excited to be able to support Sarah in doing something that she loves. We went along not really knowing what to expect. The group was quite small, only seven people, but everyone was very friendly and made us feel welcome from the start.
We began with warming up our voices, before singing a range of songs, both old and new. Although we were given the words, Sarah knew most of them anyway! We were able to find out what kind of voices we had – Sarah was a Mezzo Soprano – and learnt about breathing and rhythm. The hardest thing we had to do was sing in parts and Sarah was brilliant at this too. It was great to see that Sarah was able to participate fully and the smile on her face indicated that she enjoyed it too.
Our last challenge was to get into a small group, choose a song, arrange and perform it. Our group only had one other person in it. Sarah chose the song ‘Let it be’ by the Beetles. We spent some time singing it through, making sure we kept rhythm and then performed it to the other group. Everyone loved it and we enjoyed performing it. I was really proud of Sarah as it’s quite scary standing up and performing in front of other people.
Talking to Sarah afterwards, she said that she had really enjoyed the course and it’s true to say that she was definitely able to find her voice.
Nicky Bodily
Learning Support Worker
Milton Keynes Lifelong Learning