I have just come back from seeing Henry Rollins perform Kyiv, Ukraine. The decision to see him was based on watching him on a Joe Rogan podcast talk about his view on travelling i.e. point to a place on a map and just go, well, why not do the same? Henry is part of a select group people I look up to, he became a role model ever since I started listening to him in the ’90s and I was even more in awe of the man when he transitioned into spoken word and stand-up comedy. What I most admire about him, or any self-made individual was his relentless pursuit of a life filled with adventure, kudos and knowledge, despite not having the necessary means to start this life.
His background, coming from nothing and using a siege mentality to exceed what the world had planned for him is similar to how I got where I am now. I left school with pretty much nothing, save for a grade 9 in music (A* in old currency) This was my only ticket out of a drab and desolate life of rural living, a place where the nearest shop was four miles by car and job prospects were work in either the plastics factory or ready-made meals factory, I’d already achieved both. Like Henry I found myself surprised at what I have achieved in music, considering what I came up against i.e. more academic teachers/musicians who’d been playing since they were six months old and had more A’s on their resume then the Canadian language.
My true education came from outside the classroom, relentlessly listening to as many different records as I could and saying yes to EVERY gig and opportunity offered (paid or not, mostly not) Like Rollins, I felt to truly escape the industrial estate factory existence I had to learn harder and faster than anyone else.
I am not knocking the school system and I appreciate the significant improvements in safeguarding and flagging up students in academic need. I failed/the system failed my education largely due to my isolation and loss of hope when I realised what my surroundings were, becoming an expert in hiding, figuratively and literally. Music was the only period of the week where I would show myself and experiment and thank heavens I had it.
As the government moved education’s emphasis to literacy and numeracy whilst simultaneously pushing away non-academic subjects, I worry about how those students will cope without an outlet to express themselves, there has to be an opportunity to formulate who you want to be even if it only happens once or twice a week. The great irony in all of this is Henry embodied what us educators desire: lifelong learners, ambitious to live life to their potential and never standing still, he did all of this outside a classroom. School life is very important in shaping one’s attitude to the world and I have learnt to never to write off any kid based on these years as there may well be a case for those whose intellect and conception of the world doesn’t fit, after all, I think worked for me and Henry.
Mike Wright Music Education 