The messiness of creativity

by VJ Leith

I am doing a big project with my Year 6 students which involves a theme of Light and Shadow and writing lyrics. We have 45 minutes a week and we do other things in class such as warm up games, singing and always body percussion.

I am a songwriter and so the process they are going through is based a lot on my own experiences of writing, and I make it clear that we all have our different ways.

When they got to the point of creating fuller sentences from words based around the theme, some of them were getting very hung up on grammar, punctuation and spelling. For this part of the process, I told them how their only focus now can be on the writing of the song - so forget all the other stuff. They’re not handing this work in, it can be messy, they can draw and doodle and move around the room, share it with others, cross things out, sit how they want (or lie down on the cushions)… it is so good! They love this way of working and after a few weeks, they were coming out with some spectacular gems. Their class-teacher came into see how they were getting on and to join in, and he was blown away by their creativity. I always apply my own creative principles when teaching - they need space and time - a lot of it! And then the rewards come!

I show them my own songwriting, I share my music with them - they gather around the piano and they see and hear close up. I show them videos of my performing, and making mistakes and their writing just astounds me. When they can get messy, out of it comes beauty and structure, but the messiness is definitely a necessary part of the process.