At the end of the term when they had a public performance. His mother was one of the only parents who attended. I acknowledged his talent and made a joke about his predisposition for volume. She said “Did he tell you he is on the spectrum?”, I was a little amazed. Yes he did but I didn’t think he meant it, thought about that when assigning his mark. I wonder why I wasn’t informed about that at the front end of the term, I might then have had better ways to think about his needs and the needs of the other members of the class. Some of the singers were looking to me to police things, they felt like broken records. One week, I took him out into the hallway and relayed my confusion. It was then that he told me that when he was younger he was a little bit autistic. He said it the way people might use it as an expression. “when I was younger I was a little schizophrenic”. That was how I heard him even though he added “You might have to tell me something many times in order for me to get it”. I didn’t think he meant he was actually autistic. In all the following rehearsals the same problems persisted. I was annoyed. This has been addressed so many times and other students are contributing more, probably I will assign him a lower mark.
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The job was to supply feedback and/ or direct these young musicians to facilitate their own process. Wanted them to figure out what to do without being heavy handed. Tried by asking questions “Did everyone feel ok about that? Could anyone not hear themselves? How come?” Sometimes that would lead to a few voices identifying his volume and he would shrug and turn down only to soon be back up. I started wearing ear plugs and brought extras. The keyboardist thanked me for that.
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He had some peculiarities for a guitarist. He was confused about how to set up the amplifier, the different knobs of treble, middle, bass, overdrive. He could play very well, his articulation was clean and reliable but when I brought up time signatures he didn’t know what they were. He also didn’t read music and had perfect pitch. And yet, unlike anyone I ever met with perfect pitch, when I pointed out the out of tune-ness between his guitar and the digital keyboard he said he liked it a little sharp. He played rhythm at a solo level and didn’t understand when I asked him to turn down. Made this request often and so did the other students. He didn’t change. I tried to be polite about it, he was tall, I asked him to try sitting instead of standing, then his ears would be closer to the speaker but he preferred to stand. Often I felt frustrated annoyed and thought to get up, go to his amplifier and turn down the volume but it seemed hostile. I wanted a different solution.
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