him. Karl’s autism changes the pace of his learning. Instead of 5000 repetitions, Karl may need 10,000 repetitions. He may also need “germination” time before he can produce the desired effect. I be- lieve that Karl takes in the music, and the instruction and knowledge incubate inside of him for a long time. Often he doesn’t seem to un- derstand a concept until one day when he shocks everyone and just plays what he could not do for years. The first time Karl demonstrat- ed this kind of “delayed learning” was when he was eight years old. Connie was teaching Karl a new piece called “Song of the Wind,” which he had been listening to on a CD for the last three years. As Connie demonstrated the song, Karl immediately played “Song of the Wind” perfectly. Then he proceeded to play the rest of book I, song after song. Connie and I were stunned and looked at each other with tears running down our cheeks. Karl had been learning these songs internally for three years until one day he suddenly catapulted this stored up knowledge out into the world. We had witnessed a miracle. But that day Karl had yet another miracle in store for us. He came home after his incredible lesson and sat down at our piano. He had never played the piano before. Karl proceeded to transpose the entire book of songs to the key of C major (all white keys for ease of playing) and performed them on the piano! Suzuki describes Karl’s kind of musical learning when he says it’s like, “A seed planted in the earth. We don’t see when germina- tion begins… We have to wait patiently… Once the ‘seed’ ability is planted it has to be carefully and patiently tended. … It can be a treasure when a person can accomplish and carry through his work to the very last.” With Karl, as well as many others with autism, the hard things are easy and the easy things are hard. Memorizing music and play- ing in tune can be difficult for young cellists, but not for Karl. How- ever, opening his cello case and putting rosin on the bow were huge challenges for him. Karl was eight-years-old when he played his first cello recital at


the Hudson River Suzuki School. Connie Barrett and my family were thrilled to hear how beautifully he played the song “Lightly Row.” We were even more thrilled at Karl’s reaction to the audience. Before this concert Karl did not look people in the eye and appeared aloof to anyone other than family members. We weren’t sure if he would even notice the audience. We were flabbergasted when Karl bowed and bowed and looked at the audience with a big smile. The audi- ence was visibly moved. I will never forget the feeling I had when I saw that Karl realized that people liked what he did. It was also the beginning of Karl teaching the world that one should not “judge a book by its cover.” The audience saw Karl transform from a child “lost in a world of autism” to a young cellist proud of himself and taking in the accolades bestowed upon him. Karl’s autism took away his speaking voice but music gave it


back to him. Now he is fulfilled as a musician and he can teach the world that speaking voice is not the only voice a person can possess. Suzuki sums up the transforming power of the language of music in the following quote from his book, “Nurtured By Love.” “When the human race created the culture of speech and writing, it also produced the sublime culture called music. It is a language that goes beyond speech and letters – a living art that is almost mystical.” There can be no doubt that Karl’s window to the world is wide- open, thanks to the healing power of music. I encourage all parents with autistic children to use music as a healing force for their chil- dren and fling open those windows to the world!


Submitted by Lynn S. Arezzini, a graduate of The Graduate Insti- tute. See ad on this page.


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