Meet Richard, one of my most influential teachers. He is profoundly autistic, nonverbal and the most gentle human being I have ever met. I was his caregiver for a year and a half.  I have never seen him frightened of anything. He loves coffee, hanging out and meeting people. In a café, if you are introduced, he will turn his back on you if you are not including him in the conversation.

He talks but you have to learn his language.

When we met, his father asked me to help Richard find a passion. I began with visual art. I gave him a pencil and paper and asked him to draw. He drew a circle and stopped. I gave him a rainbow assortment of crayons. He drew a circle then his attention drifted around the room.

Then I grabbed a box of musical instruments from the shelf. I gave him a rattle, he rattled then stopped, a drum for a few beats then silence, a kalimba and he frustrated till one finger note soloed to nothing. We went from strings, to wind, to knockers but then distraction reigned.

Then I sat him down in front of a piano. His father told me he had a music teacher give him lessons but after one lesson Richard refused to play and would not try again.

Richard struck one key with one finger and the note slowly slipped to silence. His attention was mesmerized, then he struck another key until the note faded and vanished, then another, then he began to play. He was listening and playing with three different keys with three of the same fingers. I watched as he discovered the full range of piano with the same three fingers. He did not stop…

I myself had never really played so I decided to Google the basics and learned about the eight key octaves and started to play tandem with Richard..

In my eyes, We both fell in love with playing together.

What truly amazed me is how he would listen to the moment and respond in a way that was in time and in tune. I think somehow he had a natural ability and was teaching me how to be present with the music.