Music is such a totally engrossing activity--it makes sense that it holds out to anyone with disability the promise of a holistic life.

There are many problems, however. I cannot begin to name them all or pretend to deal with them. But I know that people with physical disabilities, major or minor, wrestle with the conflict between bodily and mental commands and responses. As someone who had trouble obeying physical instructions I very much resented anyone insisting that I do so, or even positing this as a norm. Most of my solutions were worked out in my head, in my imagination, at my own speed and in my own time.

This has saved my musical life and my spirit remains intact. It pretty well sums up the way I work with young learners and so far I see ample evidence that it is successful in terms of their learning processes, their motivations and their spirit. It has nothing to do with being competitive or measuring up to anyone else but one's own potential, whatever that may be.