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The Canteen of Creativity<br />
by John Duggan, Creative Arts Fellow<br />
In my first year as Creative Arts Fellow, I focused on creating a big piece that would<br />
present some of the day-to-day sights and sounds of the <strong>College</strong> in an attentiongrabbing<br />
audio-visual collage called Wolfscapes. I wanted to make an impression,<br />
get to know people and set things in motion. This year I have been consolidating<br />
my work here, continuing to direct the Isaiah Choir which I formed in my first year,<br />
and organising a series of talks and recitals. I’ve also been doing what I love to do<br />
most: composing music.<br />
When people find out that I write music, they often say: ‘I could never do that; I<br />
mean, I wouldn’t know where to start.’ It’s an insightful remark, but I think that<br />
composing is essentially like any creative activity, be it cooking or painting, writing<br />
a thesis or playing table tennis. You may need some equipment: pen and paper, pots<br />
and pans, a bat and ball; but, more importantly, you need incentive and desire. Also<br />
you need ingredients, raw material, a strong sense of self-belief, and a small shot<br />
of ability. And, more important than knowing where to start, is having a reason to<br />
start. You may begin preparing a meal because you are hungry, or because you have<br />
friends coming to dinner. I start writing for a variety of reasons: because I have a<br />
commission and therefore a performance deadline, or because I am moved by an<br />
experience – another piece of music, a film, a life event. Sometimes I write because<br />
I feel I must; it is a calling.<br />
For most of us, our early attempts at cooking will inevitably involve pieces of shell in<br />
our scrambled eggs, lumps in our white sauce, and burn marks on the insides of our<br />
pans. When I was an undergraduate I was invited to dinner by a dear friend from<br />
Bolton. My excitement at the invitation was tempered by disappointment when he<br />
served up a plate of beans on toast. A few years later, however, he invited me over<br />
again and served the most exquisite Thai meal I’d ever eaten. I’ve been writing<br />
music in earnest now for about ten years. I feel as if I have developed a certain style<br />
and fluency, hard-won through learning and practice. It’s a well-trodden path but,<br />
at the same time, a journey unique to me, and I hope that my music is now more like<br />
tasty Thai food than beans on toast.<br />
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