Creative Block

Not the most inspiring name for a school outbuilding designed to get the old juices flowing. Actually, I think I’ll leave the juices out of it. 

Anyway, I wouldn’t want to do Art in a Creative Block.

To be honest, Art was always my least favourite subject. I’d didn’t much like English, and had little interest in poetry (a state of affairs which persists to this day) but at least, when writing prose, I could say something. In Art I felt both unskilled, and uninspired. White other children were crafting brilliant geometrical things from clay my sculptures came out as something Picasso would have rejected on the basis that they were too figurative. And crap. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I hated Art, but I can’t think of a single thing I created in the 3 years I had to study it – before I could ditch it and focus on GCSE Music – that I’ve kept. Or would want to keep. 3 years of creative block and not being able to throw a pot.

As usual, I digress. Here I am, back in school. Music school, to be precise. Haggerston secondary school, which on a Saturday is taken over by the Hackney Music school (“School for gifted middle-class children including Milo, Juniper and Electra*” to give it it’s full name). Where weekly we force Fergus and Jonathan to imbibe no only musical theatre lessons (I Can Sing!) but also 30 minutes of music theory. They have been learning about crotchets, minims and the dotted variety of these species.

3 hours of music school (with various breaks between vocal, dance and theory sessions) is a good opportunity to catch up on correspondence and the gaps between sessions offer a small window to make headway on Jonathan’s homework. Of which there is far too much for a 6 year old, in my view.

Both the boys take Saturday mornings with remarkable good grace, all things considered.

Right. Music theory has finished. Time to free Jonathan from purgatory. He’s done his maths already, so he really is free.

* all real names of pupils at this school