Musical Iris a breath of fresh air for San Michele residents

Iris Wrighton (86), from Morehill, has been involved at San Michele Home for the Intellectually and Physically Disabled for 50 years – first as a board member, but later as the music therapist, which is the service she still provides today.

Fifty years ago, Iris’ father built a chapel for the home.

Iris, as a church organist, worked with the youth, providing chorus training and accompaniment. Back then, she did an ‘action chorus’, which incorporated dancing, instruments, and movement.

She noticed some of the disabled children were trying to copy the chorus and provided training for the residents of San Michele back then, including children.

At the time, Scotland was the only place in the world with formal music therapy. Iris did not have formal training, and her therapy is based on years of experience and trial and error.

“I cannot just play my music and expect them to do what I want. They have to enjoy the music and feel passionate about it. It is enriching for them,” she explained.

Over the years, things changed at San Michele. The home caters for disabled adults only. Now, when placing someone in the home, psychiatric conditions are also taken into account.

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“Some residents seem fully functional, and you wonder what they are doing there. They were placed there for a reason, and it is not my business what put them there. I only provide music,” she said.

Iris was first exposed to San Michele because she had a disabled brother, Alfie Chalmers, who was a resident there.

“Without him, the family would not have known about the institution,” she explained.

Iris was also a regional manager for Methodist Old Age Homes, and Prim Villa Methodist Home in Primrose where she provided music stimulation to Alzheimer’s patients. It was far more difficult for her than providing this service to people with disabilities.

She visits San Michele every Thursday to provide an enriching activity for residents wishing to participate. It involves dancing, clapping and using percussion instruments like sticks, drums, bells and tambourines.

“In earlier years I went to San Michele regularly to do music but as I have got older once a week on a Thursday is all that I can manage.

“I go to the quarterly birthday parties on a Tuesday when we celebrate collectively all those whose birthday is in that quarter,” she said.

“Many of them have their own song, so to speak, and when we play it they get a solo moment to perform it. We also provide music in several languages to be inclusive,“ she said.

Sometimes the residents don’t follow instructions, but Iris feels that it is a good thing.

“Sometimes you just have to let them take over,” she explained.

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