Karen has always enjoyed music. When she was tiny, she was sung to -lullabies, nursery rhymes and made up songs. I remember two songs I made up for her both very short. One was a song called "What's all this noise about?" which I would sing when she was crying and food, drink, cuddles, nappy changes...none of these seemed to be the problem. Another was when she was sitting up and had a very favourite yellow squeaky rubber car. I used to sing "motor car, trying to find a parking place parks.....(pause)......on...... Karen! The car would land on Karen's lap, hand, foot to squeals of laughter. As Karen grew into toddlerhood, not only did she enjoy music sessions at school and playgroup but at home for birthdays, Christmas' and other occasions she acquired her own mini band of percussion instruments, stringed instruments and a few wind ones as well. She enjoyed sitting at our piano and at the age of about six acquired her first electronic keyboard about fourteen notes wide. My mother hired a miniature Suzuki violin for her for about a year which she enjoyed, but which she never quite worked out how to play. One year she was delighted to receive a drum kit for Christmas and when she was a teenager got a proper 80 note keyboard complete with rhythms and demonstration tunes and about 78 different voices. 
In September 1983 Karen joined a monthly Saturday morning music group. It took place at the City Literary Institute near Covent Garden which was an Adult Education Centre. It has a variety of courses and I had done a creative writing class, a musicianship class and some history of London classes there before having the children. In addition to the ordinary courses there were courses for adults with a mental handicap as it was then called but now I think it is more known as learning difficulties. It was called S.I.T.E. studies in independence through education. Anyway, there was a teacher in the adult group who at the request of some of the adults decided to set up a music group for children, all under six, at the other end of the age range. Her name is Jan Wyatt and she founded a group called "Special Jam" of excellent musicians. I found out about the music group in a round about way. My mother had a friend who lived outside London who had left teaching when she had children and who has a son, Ben with Downs Syndrome. She mentioned it to my mother during a phone chat assuming that as I live in central London I would know about it. I didnt but we started going. Most of the children had Downs Syndrome but some had other disabilities, and many brought along their brothers and sisters. It was a structured music session but lots of fun. 
We used to start off with a "Hello" song, where everyone's name was sung as we sat round in a circle. More songs followed including lots of songs using names. One was a Hat song where one child wore a top hat and would go something like "Chloe has a friend and her name is Karen. Karen is her name. Chloe's going to give her friend the hat" (at which point the top hat would be solemly removed and placed on the friends head like a coronation) Karen's got the hat. Then it would be Karen has a friend and his name is Ben..etc. Another song was all about celebrating progress. The music group lasted for more than five years and during the course we had verses to the song which ranged from "Karen is learning to use a potty, Karen is learning to use a potty, Karen is learning to use a potty. What a clever girl...to Charlotte is learning to tie her shoes, Charlotte is learning to tie her shoes, Charlotte is learning to tie her shoes, what a clever girl. Sometime in the proceedings came the favourite song. Instead of all sitting in a circle to sing, at this point one child would be selected to come into the middle where there was a wonderful wooden drum. Then a song was sung "Bobby Bubble beats the drum" and the child would have a chance to bang the drum with four rhythmic beats bong, bong, bong, bong and then this was repeated. The kids loved it and so did the parents. Then we had a quiet session. One of the leaders would play some soft improvised flute music and all kids, mums, dads, would sit on the floor and relax. This was followed by a few more songs and then finally we all sang a special goodbye song. The music group met once a month on a Saturday afternoon. 
In September 1984, Karen started music therapy. This was very different from the informal music group and was very structured and scientific. Whereas the Saturday music group was primarily for fun, but additionally as a social event where parents could meet other parents and children meet other children, and also as a learning experience both of music and of communication. Music therapy was a way of helping Karen to improve her speech and her confidence, and incidentally to increase her dexterity and help her in many subtle ways. Each session had two musicians working with Karen and each session was taped. Between sessions the musicians would listen to and analyse the tapes. They took place in a specialist therapy room at the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy centre in North London, one of many Nordoff-Robbins therapy centres all over the world. I was able to observe the sessions through a one way mirror on occasions although I usually sat in the waiting room. The sessions always took place at about 9:30 AM once a week so that Karen was wide awake and ready to learn. Karen had an opportunity to play the piano, to play various instruments and to sing along to the music. Sometimes they would play a pattern of music for Karen to imitate. the sessions were hard work but very enjoyable and during the two years or so that Karen experienced music therapy, there were many improvements in her skills and confidence. Every term there was a report and the Spring term report of 1985 says things like "Karen continues to enjoy coming to music therapy sessions. She is gaining more confidence and developing a warm relationship with the therapists. She can maintain a steady beat when playing the drum and stops at the end of phrases. Recently she began to follow tempo changes and accelerandi, She mouths the words of her songs and occasionally vocalises the final word of a phrase.....when seated next to the pianist she will gently pick out single notes on the piano or hit clusters." 
When Karen was a toddler one of her favourite toys was a Fisher-Price tape recorder. It lasted for years and then was replaced by a newer more colourful model. This one also lasted a long time and even survived being dropped into the bath. It was playable about 24 hours after the accident! At first Karen used to play nursery rhymes and other childrens songs, or home recorded tapes of family songs. But as she got older, she learned to use the record button and used to love recording family conversations, or would bug guests without their knowledge. What could be quite embarrasing was when she would record the family (including any arguments or embarrassing sitations) and then take the tape on the school bus where she would hand it to the driver, or to the teacher during a music listening session. They would assume it was taped music from a radio or other music and then our family life, in all its uncensored detail would be broadcast to whoever was around! Fortunately the teachers or bus escorts were ususally diplomatic enough to switch it off! Anyway, the family songs became longer and more complicated than the little jingles I had sung to Karen as a baby. One favourite was called "Karen is standing in the corner". This was a multi verse song each verse beginning with the name of a member of the family or a friend or a teacher and would describe that someone was standing in the corner and why. Karen's was that she had been "cooking" with tomato sauce. Karen used to do cookery at school and for some reason thought the word "cook" meant to stir something in a big bowl. Hence whenever I was not watching her, she would look for interesting mischief to be up to and one of these was to go to the kitchen, get a bowl and wooden or plastic spoon and empty a bottle of tomato ketchup, some eggs and anything else she could find and mix it all up while seated on the kitchen floor. 
As Karen grew up her tastes in music changed from nursery rhymes and songs like the Wheels on the bus to pop music. By the time she was eleven she was enjoying the school disco at Christmas and at the end of the summer term and gradually acquired a huge collection of pop music tapes. She regularly spends her pocket money on cassettes and one day we will bow to the inevitable and get her a personal CD player and then she can start squandering her money on CDs. She has a more sophisticated tape recorder now but still enjoys recording anything and everything. She particularly likes sitting watching a favourite video and recording the sound on tape and then listening to the soundtrack of the video. She also enjoys other kinds of music. When she was younger I used to take her to brass band concerts in the park in the summer. She had enjoyed carol concerts but at some stage developed a fear of loud drums and does not like amplified music so has never been to a pop concert. For a few years she used to go to annual "Teddy Bear concerts" where you got a discount off the ticket if you brought a teddy bear along. These were short pieces of classical music, music from musicals or film and TV (like the Snowman) and Christmas Carols as they always take place around Christmas. She has grown out of Teddy Bear concerts but has been to see the Nutcracker Ballet twice and to other ballets. She enjoys dancing and when she was at Derwen College really loved the jukebox and the college discos.Now as a grown woman she goes to several adult education clasess including jazz and dance
Karen enjoys listening to the radio, listening to tapes and listening to live music as long as it's not too loud. She plays the piano making up her own music, using thirds but otherwise its quite avant-garde.She plays her keyboard and enjoys dancing. The last photograph on this page is one of many pictures Karen has taken of her favourite things. This shows a keyboard, a tape and her Fisher price tape recorder. The story continues with "People who have helped Karen", "Karen the Celebrity", "Karen and Swimming" and "Karen goes to college".
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