creativity

tempting though it is to use this space to catalogue the various pains and sleepless nights i'm experiencing, (like an old man, "just pop the veggie sausages in the fridge over there, you're awfully kind, you know of course my back's playing up again and this arm..."). today i want to briefly mention what is going to happen in this house in about 3 hours.

i first came to this house many years ago because an ex-student of mine was having a creative evening to celebrate her birthday. i knew of the house before because a couple of people from my teaching course lived here, and maybe i'd been round before...? anyway, this ex-student has a piano, and i was invited to maybe sing a few tunes. it was the occasion on which i rediscovered an old, old tune of mine i'd written for a girl i used to see on my school bus. on the night of the do i was sat at home dimly remembering the tune, i played a chord on my rhodes piano and slowly at first, the whole tune came tumbling out, chords and melody, complete. so i sang it that night. it was a lovely event, a giving environment to perform in. lovely strong memories of certain other people singing songs...

so this same woman, who is one of seven of us living in this house now, is having a creative event today, not dissimilar in intention, although more daring on her part i'm guessing today. theatre, poetry, music, works in progress... quite a line-up, she has tried to keep the audience quite small, to make it easier for some performers to take risks a little.

i'm doing 3 tunes, one of mine and 2 twisted covers like i like to do, with a guitarist (another resident) - i'm not sure i can keep up this "not mentioning names" routine, seems long winded and unnecessary.. - and in a way this is a prelude for me to a night i'm putting on in my landlord's front room on july 3rd, checking out how certain things might work,...

it's funny how these things are in my life when i most need them. my creativity and musicianship being expressed in a supportive environment just as my work life is shaken. the dual life of being a musician and a teacher, my college often used to push the idea that they are very similar, or that the skills in one are exactly the same as some of the skills in the other.

a few summers ago sat facing a guitarist whose band i was leaving, and who didn't want me to go, telling me my trouble was that i was too much of a teacher and not enough of a musician. not that he was right, but just interesting for me to trace where i put myself on that dynamic from year to year x