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Calming

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I find music to be very calming at work. However, I would guess that it would depend on what you do for a living and what your day to day business at work involves. For me, I teach in an EBD classroom with children ranging from mild behavioral problems to severe mental illness. Playing music during the day keeps me from going over the edge when things are getting a little hectic. When you have a child in meltdown, music can actually save the child from going all the way into meltdown.

Often, I have been able to say "Listen to the music. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth." Repeating this can often get the child to calm down, lay on the floor and just relax. I do not play or recommend head banging rock in a classroom. I do play country, classical, rock ballads and alternative from time to time. I play Christmas music during the season. My students are fourth and fifth graders. They range in age from 9 to 12 depending on school successes and failures. I have had occasions in which I have had some pretty street tough kids who have seen more in their short lives than some aged adults have ever seen. It is an amazing thing to behold when one of these kids starts singing a country song or a calming rock ballad and knows all the lyrics.

By the third or fourth month of school, my kids are reminding me that the stereo hasn't yet been turned on for the day. They will also begin making requests for which CD to put on the stereo. I very seldom get requests for music that they may typically experience at home because they know it's just not going to happen in our room. Our room is safe and meant to be a haven for the day away from what they know at home.

That is not to say that all of kids are gang bangers. They aren't. I sometimes have kids from decent homes who recognize some of the music because it is played at home. In those cases, the music is really special for the kid because home is an okay place or because the song is the favorite of some family member with whom the child has a good relationship.

Either way, music just makes the day more bearable for all of us. We turn it off during testing or reading for obvious reasons. We turn it off if someone is just not in the mood for the moment. These times do not usually last long. We even have one song in particular, Drift Away by Uncle Kracker, that the whole class likes. One classmate with verbal communication difficulties took quite a liking to this particular song. He learned the chorus and sang with the song. His classmates memorized the whole song and sing it to him everytime the song comes on the stereo. They let him have the chorus. :)

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