"Everything's Going My Way"

Up here in Denton is the Denton State School, which is an institution for adults with disabilities. The music therapy program at TWU does a lot working with these people. The last 2 days they've hosted the Denton State School Music Festival, which is basically a series of competitions and performances by people from other "state schools" all over Texas that have come here to compete and perform. All of these people have severe/profound disabilities.

I observed part of the vocal competition today and wanted to share a little bit about it. There was an old guy, probably in his late 50s, who performed "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma. As you'd expect, the articulation wasn't clear, the pitch was flat, and the rhythm was frequently off.

But I was really struck with a sense of conviction when he sang everything's going my way! I think the common reaction would be that given his life circumstances, not much would in fact be going "his" way. In fact, of anyone, it's these people that would be most justified in feeling sorry for themselves and complaining about the unfairness of life.

And this guy, with probably a combination of different disabilites that make him totally dependent on others to survive in society, was up there grinning and singing, with conviction, about how everything is "going his way."

Man...

Denton State School