“Where words leave off, music begins.”
~ Heinrich Heine
Music can bypass the mind and go straight to the heart. The Snap Judgment series pairs live instrumental music with live oral storytelling for a powerful performance — creating “stories with a beat.” Music creates the mood for the words to have an even deeper emotional impact.
Music is what feelings sound like.
Night terror, also known as sleep terror, is as terrifying as it sounds. Beyond waking up with the nightmare of a bad dream, this feeling of panic and dread occurs in deep sleep. People are described as “bolting upright,” eyes wide open, panic on their faces. With yelling, screaming, and incomprehensible speech, these episodes can last 10 minutes or longer. While the people seem awake, they are not. They are inconsolable and unresponsive to attempts to communicate. They appear to be trying to escape something. Sometimes they will even thrash and lash out when awakened, endangering the people trying to help them. When night terrors occurs with sleep walking, this sleep disorder can be even more dangerous.
While this disorder is rare compared to the more common nightmares that wake up children, night terrors usually begin in early childhood. Effective treatment is difficult. During actual sleep terrors (not nightmares), it is often best to not awaken the child. Instead parents are often instructed to allow the episode to fade away while monitoring that children don’t fall out of bed and injure themselves. However, fear of sleep and the subsequent sleep deprivation can trigger more night terrors. The child and the family are often reassured by the fact that they will likely outgrow this disorder.
Shane Koyczan grew up with night terrors. He needed a hero. His grandfather came to the rescue.