Flight of the Bumblebee

We used to have this nice MP3 player in our Honda Accord. Used to. Before Lynn started taking the express bus to work everyday he would drive to Sandy and take Trax to Salt Lake. Well, one night, upon returning to the Trax parking lot from work, he got in the car and noticed that something was missing. Yes, our car had been broken into and the MP3 player had been stolen. At first, we were in the habit of taking off the faceplate when we left the car, but you know how lazy we all get. It became so much easier to forget and leave it on.

Anyway, the thieves left a gaping hole in the place of the Rockford Fosgate The Fast and the Furious Model MP3 player (it was cool lookin'). We, I should say Lynn, has been driving around with it like that now for years. The car is not worth it to buy a new one. Anyway, today we traded cars, since he had to drive to a charity golf event in Logan (we always use the nicer car for longer trips). I had to drive to Provo for a Schizophrenia training (more on that later). On my way home I noticed some noise coming from the dash area. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but it sounded like, yes... The Flight of the Bumblebee. Music. Coming from where there shouldn't have been any music. Was it real? Or imagination? It seems the physics of the hole in the dash have left us with an interesting arrangement of musical score all our own. Amazing.


Now, on to the Schizophrenia training. Because I have a couple of music therapy contracts at the State Hospital and I work with people with Schizophrenia I wanted to take the training, which would allow me to gain a better appreciation for the patients I work with. In the training, you wear headphones with a walkman which plays a recording of voices and other sounds that a person who hears voices experiences. The program was put together by a woman who is able to function professionally, but who suffers from the mental illness. She hears voices. While listening to these voices we are asked to perform simple tasks, answer questions, and follow directions. It was very insightful, and difficult at the same time.

Many physical and emotional symptoms arose from various people in the group. These included: nervousness, anxiety, depression, worry, headache, and tension. The goal of this exercise was to gain empathy for the patients we work with. To learn to speak more clearly, be willing to repeat yourself, slow down when giving directions, and gain a deeper understading of what the patients are experiencing every day all day.

It was an eye-opening experience, and I'm glad I did it. I'm so grateful that I don't suffer from this illness. I found myself wanting to listen to the voices, wanting to do what they told me, wanting to pay attention to them and not to the instructor. As with so many other mental illnesses and mood disorders, schizophrenia is one that is so misunderstood and one that people are afraid of, and because of that it has a bad stigma. If more people could just experience what I did today, they would be so much more understanding of people who suffer from these illnesses.