It is always good to be able to report good news and there has been a lot of that in this last week. We have had some good sessions that have produced moments of communication that have been so precious. We have been able to address contract issues for staff and put together a timetable that will enable learning for our new student. We have been looking for a saxophone player for someone in the volunteer project and guess what? Our new student plays the saxophone. We look forward to working with her and hope that she will gain many new learning experiences that will help her to be a great music therapist.
We can’t have good news all the time!
We put in for a funding stream that would cement The Forget Me Note Project as one of the leading providers of music therapy in Edinburgh. We wanted to deliver a three-year project working with a school for children with additional needs. We had great plans for dovetailing our music sessions with the school curriculum so that our music would compliment the children’s education. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful. In a world of increasing competition only 25 charities could be invested in, and we were not one of them. We did however receive some positive feedback and some constructive feedback as to how we could make our case stronger in the future. As you can imagine my first reaction was one of disappointment and the frustration of knowing what we could achieve together. Having had time to breath and reflect, all those things are still relevant, it is just securing the funding. The challenge we face is how to secure the funding and I will spend this week looking for opportunities which I know are out there.
It doesn’t matter what role you fulfil in life there will always be successes and learning opportunities. The danger is that we look at these things as failure when it isn’t at all. I know so much more about special educational needs in schools now than when I started the application. I am even more convinced that music has a place in the education system than I did before, and as I look for funding for this exciting opportunity I am going to learn even more. Somewhere around a corner we will find what we are looking for, and we will deliver in some form the project we hope for.
When we are on the receiving end of disappointing news, we need time to absorb things to come to terms with the emotions that these things bring. If we give ourselves the permission to express our feelings and move through these emotions, we can often find the resilience to go again.
Before I go, I must tell you about our fifth Sing-a-thon on the 15th of November. This is always a highlight of The Forget Me Note year. A time when we meet up with some of our Facebook followers on Zoom and other members of Forget Me Notes whom we don’t get to see too often. We will also raise money as it is a sponsored event, and I will post the link for you in order that you can sponsor our 12 -hour Marathon.
Have a great week.