An interactive musical, comic, and rhythmic journey through the past … backwards! Using a combination of backing tracks, live guitar playing, and live looping, Andee Joyce leads us through a half spoken/half sung musical comedy narrative (with lots of audience participation) about growing up autistic amid the pop culture cheese of the 1960s and 1970s.

Students will learn about what it was like to be autistic at a time when terms like “autism spectrum” and “neurodiversity” didn’t exist (because the autism diagnosis at the time didn’t apply to kids who could talk or had any interest in other people, and families who were known to have neurodivergent kids were often shunned). They will also find out about how Andee’s autistic fixation on rhythm eventually became a way for her to embrace her difference and use it as a means to connect with others — and have a blast doing it!

The first half of this version of RHYTHM AND AUTISM will be 100% free from common sensory triggers, and otherwise follows the format of the 100% Sensory Friendly Version (please see that listing for more details). In the second half, Andee will gradually introduce more of the sounds she loves that are potentially less sensory friendly: singing and clapping along, tambourines, other clattery percussion, loud/high notes. She will also put on a vividly colored handmade shawl to mark the transition point! Before each individual number, Andee will let the audience know which sensory elements they can expect, and the show will build to a thunderously joyous, fully participatory climax.

Students will be encouraged to clap and make other rhythmic sounds that are cool and different (adjusted for age band levels), and will be invited to help Andee make live rhythm loops. For middle and high schools, there will be more of an emphasis on looping and more complex percussion rhythms.

This program offered by: Andee Joyce: Rhythm and Autism