The Loving Method

I was frustrated. Desperate. All methods that I applied to teach music was failed. Tanah Liat, my pupil, was so passive and unresponsive.


I told his mother, Rahayu Trisni (Yayuk), I would like to resign. I didn’t feel right that after weeks of teaching Tanah, a Down Syndrome child, we were still stuck. Yayuk declined my request. “Could you please try again, Pi,” she appealed.

I did research, and there was no effective method to teach music to children with special needs. I prayed, “Dear God, I love this boy. Please, show me a way to enter his world.”


The next day, as if I had enlightenment, I suddenly could see the way Tanah thinks. He likes things in order. All this time, my instruction was “After the fourth beat, you hit the drum, okay? Alright, 1, 2, 3, 4, Oooone!” No wonder it failed all the time. How come one comes after four?


So, I changed the instruction, “On five, you hit the drum, okay? 1, 2, 3, 4, five!” Bam! Tanah hit the drum timely. Oh my goodness, what a relief!


After that, the learning process had become so much easier. I put away all the methods I learned from ISI. All the musical terms such as andante, allegro, moderato, just throw them into a drawer. I was using stuff that Tanah would understand. For example, we are in an alley, so hit the drum softly, or, this is the tollway so you can hit it faster.


Slowly, his skills in music are getting better. His beat has rhythm, his feet can play the pedals correctly. Tanah also joined a band, which requires him to coordinate with other players. When to hit it hard, when to hit it soft, he understood. Tanah could share ears with the members of Eman-Eman Band. This drum set is a complete tool for various motoric nerves and coordination exercise all at once.


Six months of learning, in 2013, Tanah performed in public. Oh my God, I was so moved. Now every month he has a gig schedule. Whenever he was on stage, it doesn’t look like he has down syndrome anymore. He interacts with the band members and audience too. Fantastic, Mas Tanah! (TO BE CONTINUED)

Since I teach Tanah, one by one, other children with special needs requested me to be their private teacher. Some were autistic, some with Down Syndrome, some with Asperger, and many others.

Rahayu Trisni has the idea of having a recital of 11 children with special needs. Three months of hard work, practice, dealing with different types of children. Wow… that was some experience. Last month, we had a gig at the Museum and Gallery of Tanah Liat. I was so proud!

My life also changed. I was pretty disorganized. These children with special needs had made me led a better life. My life has become more meaningful. Especially when I read what Tanah wrote, he said that he was proud and over the moon (his writings are on slide 2 and 3).

The faculties of my campus who know how disorganized I was, were all so surprised that I could teach children with special needs. They asked me to write a book, about my experience teaching music to them. No one has ever written anything on this topic.”

Well, maybe someday I will write that book, even though I have no idea what should I call the method that I use. Let’s just call it: The Loving Method.

PUBLISHED BY Puan Indonesia
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