As with our fellow Makaton Tutors (and the Charity too), Boris
Johnson's lockdown announcement threw us into turmoil with the abrupt
closure of all events, schools and any training opportunities. The news
of the Covid-19 pandemic was scary not just from a health perspective
but also from a livelihood perspective - how could we possibly manage to
get through a prolonged period with no opportunity to work?
Those first couple of weeks after the announcement had us all plunged
into a rapid learning phase trying to find out whether we could ride
out this pandemic by running classes via this previously unheard of
platform called Zoom.
In amongst all this learning (with a bit of panicking and the odd sob
here and there), we decided that the best way to pick ourselves up was
going to be through music and through collaboration and supporting each
other. And if that music includes ample opportunity for comedy air
guitar, then even better!
One of the wonderful and positive things about social media -
particularly during these strange times - has been the ability to
connect with fellow Makaton Tutors and build a network of colleagues,
outside of Singing Hands, who all share the same passion for
communication.
With that in mind, we posted on the Facebook group for Makaton Tutors
asking who'd be up for joining in with a Makaton lip-synced rendition
of Mr Blue Sky It's a classic song that you cannot help but feel
uplifted by once you hear it. Our hope was that it would bring some joy
in amongst all the fear.
Luckily we had lots of tutors all across the UK who put their hands
up and said YES! We then translated the song (with thanks to Nic Pike
and Tracy Clark too) and divided up the lines and the musical interludes
and this is the result. Over 50 tutors, many of whom have appeared with
their children, bringing so much happiness to others during
lockdown. If you haven't seen it already we hope you like it.
Thank you so much to everyone who was up for being involved, we couldn't have achieved it without you.