Piano Man

It’s the last day of term before the Easter break and the weather is awful, really windy and rainy, so it’s the perfect combo for an even higher levels of excitement in the children!

I happen to be on lunch duty in the main school building every other Friday, generally speaking this is one of my quieter duties as most pupils are outside in the playground or over in the lunch hub. So, usually it’s just a matter of moving children along who are sitting in stair wells listening to music, or have snuck into the building and are wandering around.

Of course, as its pretty ghastly outside, more children have found their way into the building for the obvious shelter from the rain, an abundance of soggy children milling around, sheltering as the provision for wet lunch time is arguably not sufficient, and this usually leads to a bit of end of lunchtime chaos.

I do a lap of the building from the zero to the 3rd floor whilst eating my equally soggy salad I brought from home, you know the drill, the usual great health and well-being habits of teachers. I’m on the 3rd floor, which is usually relatively quiet as involves walking up a substantial amount of stairs. I come across Declan.

Declan is an Irish Gypsy. He is everything you might expect, parents are delightful and work with school to support Declan’s education as best they know how, but struggle to read and write, and come from a world where less importance is placed on formal education. Declan is the youngest of six children, the oldest sister, at 17 already has two children of her own, and his three older brothers have all ended up at the PRU. One brother has at last, after a lengthy process, been given a diagnosis of ADHD. Declan, although only in Year 7, may well head in the same direction despite my colleagues and my best efforts to nurture and harness his amazing talents he has for art and (as I am just about to discover) music.

Declan heads towards me on the corridor with what looks to me like a fairly expensive electric guitar (although my knowledge of electric guitars is minimal) I know there has been some Talent Show happening in the Expressive Arts Theatre at lunch time, but to my knowledge Declan was not performing. He tells me is helping out and returning the guitar to the music dept, which seems completely plausible. I have no reason not to believe or trust him.

Declan does however have the most behaviour points in Year 7 by four fold. He often truants lessons, he appears to display many of the traits of someone who has ADD and ADHD, but currently is not getting the help he requires. He is often in trouble with a whole array of teachers who do not quite understand his needs. I always find him charming, a bit elf like in his behaviour, and he is a little on the mischievous side.

He returns the guitar to the music teacher who is grateful for his help, then I escort him back out of the music department via the small practise room where there happens to be a piano as it is unoccupied so as not to disturb another class. When I say unoccupied I mean no one is having lessons or using the space.

Declan, in his impish Irish accent says to me “Hey Miss, I can play you know, can I play you a tune? “

I hesitate for a split second, sensing an awareness that I don’t work in the music dept so feel like a bit of an intruder, but the music teacher who Declan returned the guitar to, is also a colleague of mine, in the pastoral team and knows Declan, so what harm could it do? After all, he only wants to show me how he can play the piano and demonstrate something positive. If he was asking me to hear him read, I would automatically say yes, so what’s the problem I think. As I pause, Declan doesn’t, as his ADHD probably doesn’t allow him to and he’s already turned on the piano and got the lid open. How could I say no, and squash this little boy’s enthusiasm and determination and his desire to show me how good he is at something?

And what sort of educator would say no?

Here he was wanting to show me something he was proud of, that he had taken the time to learn and enjoy and wanted to share with a fellow human being. I asked him what he was going to play?

He replied “This. I’ve learnt it off Tik Tok”.

At this, he started to play eloquently with both hands, only Mozart’s Ronda Alla Turca which just so happens to be one of my most favourite pieces of classical music. It brought tears to my eyes. As he played and became more confident I started to sing along. I think he was both pleased and shocked that I knew it.

This was one of those special moments, a moment that came from nowhere. It’s moments like this that make it all worthwhile, the very essence of what it means to be a teacher, privileged to guide youngsters like Declan in the right direction. In an instant Declan was able to transport him and I to a totally different world while he played so beautifully with immense pride and joy shining in his face. A completely different place from the reality of the soggy corridors for a moment.

I was half hoping other staff members might pass by and hear this astonishing, gifted (in the true sense of the word) child, especially the ones that write him off each week for not sitting still in science, or being (according to the behaviour policy ) “persistently defiant “in French. This boy is genuinely gifted and talented, it’s just a matter of tapping into what makes him tick, and harness this, this is our job as educators.

As we are basking in our moment of delight, I spot the stale, male, pale peripatetic music teacher coming towards this little practise room. He looks annoyed. I don’t know this man as he is a visiting teacher who comes to our school once a week to teach piano lessons. It becomes immediately apparent that he has obviously met Declan before, as he is instantly aggressive and hostile towards both Declan and little old me (who incidentally he has never met). He bursts in the room, completely fails to acknowledge or even listen to this beautiful recital, just about slams the piano lid shut on Declan’s fingers and orders us both out of the room, shrieking “No you can’t come in here like that!” I felt like saying “Like what? Playing the piano beautifully in a music room?”

I was so proud of Declan, he did not react to this man’s poor behaviour and blatant lack of respect for us both. Declan and I both left gracefully and let this grumpy old teacher to carry on ranting to himself. No matter what had gone before, this reaction was pretty inexcusable on every level. Talk about not getting it! I was left utterly dismayed, and I think so too was Declan.

We need to be the un-provokable adult, and wearing our heart on our sleeve in this way can undermine the emotional security one should be nurturing, and channelling this astounding talent into making Declan a confident learner.

Q. How do you separate the person from the behaviour in moments like these

Q. How would you move on from this point?