Music and creativity – an escape
In various talks and books, Ken Robinson speaks passionately of how Gillian Lynne, the famous ballerina, might nearly have been diagnosed with something like ADHD (had it been an “available condition” in the 1930s, he quips) was it not for one psychiatrist who saw what she really had: a talent and a desire to dance – one that just couldn’t be contained. As Robinson said “she had to dance to be able to think”.
Thanks to the psychiatrist’s diagnosis, she was not consigned to a lifetime of stigma and low acheivement but rather sent to dance school, from where she became a world-famous dancer, established a dance school and choreographed Cats and Phantom (amongst others), thus bringing joy to millions and making herself fabulously wealthy – and one hopes, happy – in the process.
So in today’s news, another fascinating example of how music and creativity can be a panacea. Nick Van Bloss who suffers from Tourettes resumes his career as a professional pianist with a performance at the Cadogan Hall – his first for 15 years.
Aged 11, Van Bloss discovered his symptoms – tics, vicious blinking, yelps, involuntary punching and kicking – to evaporate the moment he began playing the piano. He then pursued an intensive musical training and professional performing career until a career break in 1996. He found it too exhuasting, but now has his condition better under control.
In keeping with the Gillian Lynne story, evidence points at success at a particular endeavour not to be in spite of the condition but because of it. “Tourette’s is the fuel” he says.
But sadly most schools don’t offer children the opportunity to even try such niche activities, let alone excel at them.
How many others could turn a paralysing handicap into a virtue – if only given the chance?
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I recommend reading the The Element if this sort of thing gets your mind ticking, like it does mine!
