Throughout the various Covid lockdowns, one of the oft-repeated comments was about the power of the Creative Arts to lift people's mood and bring hope in times of difficulty. I blogged a few times about it myself. However, recently I've been thinking about other reasons why they are so important. This week, it came to me - it's about the inclusivity of them. So many of the clubs on offer for children - particularly sports ones - are about getting into a team. There aren't many where the 'enthusiastic but not very good' child can go and be just as involved as everyone else.
My 8yo is a creative soul. He's not the best singer or dancer by any stretch of the imagination but he absolutely loves it. The same applies to his artistic talents. His creative side is something I really encourage him to explore, because it's a place where he can express himself. At Christmas, one of the few specific things he asked for was a blank cartoon book because he wanted to create his own comic strips. He spent hours bent over it, happily drawing and adding speech bubbles and took great pride in showing me what he'd achieved at the end of the day.
Similarly, he looks forward to his tap class every week. At the last end of term parent watching session, I realised he has almost no sense of rhythm and genuinely can't hear the beat of the music. However, when I asked if he enjoyed the class and wanted to continue attending, he was adamant that he did. His teacher reassured me that he was improving and she was more than happy for him carry on. It was lovely to see the joy on his face when he got the steps right and in time with the music, even if it was only by chance!
Towards the end of last year, he also spent weeks writing stories set on Titanic, Britannic and Olympic. They were of the standard you would expect from an eight year old, but when he'd finished each one, he gave it to me and asked me to edit it for him - living with a writer, he knows the importance of getting someone else to check your work! He was super keen to read them to us and asked if we could publish them. Obviously, we couldn't do it properly, but I did get them printed into proper books for him to give to his grandparents. It doesn't matter whether they were any good or not, they gave him pride in his own achievements and that is priceless.
Thinking about this made me look back on my own childhood, which was largely music based - at secondary school I did music of one form or another every day.
Monday - music lesson
Tuesday - choir
Wednesday - dance band
Thursday - jazz band
Friday - saxophone group
Saturday - 3 hours of various music groups
Sunday - playing in the church music group for the morning service
I was a reasonably talented musician, but by no means the best. However, I was good enough to hold my own in the various groups and when I struggled, I was surrounded by both teachers and peers who were kind enough to give me a helping hand. This wasn't just limited to my childhood either. As an adult, when I was teaching, I loved playing with the school music groups. The music teachers there also encouraged me to try new things. I learnt enough basic trumpet to join in with the brass band and my colleagues taught me how to improvise and to do it well enough to do an improvised solo in a concert.
Since I've been publishing books, I've had so many people tell me that they'd love to have a go at writing, but for various reasons, they've never quite managed it. Usually, what's holding them back is a conviction that what they write won't be very good. My response is always the same - if you enjoy doing it, does it matter if it's good or not? Most writers write for themselves as much as for other people - if others read and enjoy our writing, it's a bonus. I write because I have to. If it was only ever my family who read my books, I'd still do it because it brings me so much joy.
So there we have it - anyone can be creative and they don't have to be good to enjoy it. THAT'S why the Creative Arts are important!
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