Siggy Patchitt

My Practice in Context: Siggy Patchitt

Music has the power to unlock potential. It can be a source of pleasure and joy for anyone. I find it inspiring, yet unsurprising, that everyone I meet has some kind of connection with music. Even those who consider themselves ‘unmusical’ still hum or whistle a tune every now and then, or have the radio on while they work. It represents the most basic subconscious parts of humanity: The heartbeat and the sound of nature. Throughout the history of civilized society, music has been used to unite and oppress. From Joshua at the walls of Jericho to Live Aid, we have utilised it as a force for change. It can convey messages that resonate with whole continents, or deal with the deepest feelings of one person. The same powerful properties have been used in more sinister ends by tycoons and tyrants too numerous to mention. Music is extremely accessible: Some of the greatest and most lauded musicians of all time have been deaf and blind and, since music is merely manipulation of frequency, its only requirement is the absence of a vacuum. It is a truly universal medium. As sharks and dolphins both independently evolved to take the most efficient shape to fit their environment, so have all the cultures of the earth utilised music to communicate; both literally (drums/military) and in the preservation of cultural identity (folk songs). In modern times it has become an extremely lucrative business.  Music is borne of creativity and therefore perfectly suited to creative activities. It is versatile enough to be adapted to any age or ability, and is transcends space and time.

Music has been a part of my life since I can remember. I was in the school band and choir and learned various different instruments as a child. At the time, it was merely something I did. I can’t remember whether I enjoyed it or not, but I have a lot of early memories of making music, so I must have. I wrote my first song when I was 6 and my first piece of music (on the piano) the same year. I feel this has played an important part of my development as it has meant that I have always been learning something, and enjoying it. Equating learning to enjoyment (albeit subconsciously) and always having a creative outlet has meant that I have never felt creatively repressed and have embraced learning in every form it has taken (even with subjects I didn’t enjoy, realising I had learned something still felt good). Making music is the one thing that I can do without effort that gives me pleasure and enables me to express my true self. It’s fun and rewarding and can be as taxing or effortless as I feel I want it to be at any particular time. It can be practiced in solitude or socially; narcissistically or altruistically; subject to intense critical scrutiny, or simply enjoyed in the moment.

When I recovered from chemotherapy, it dawned on me that human beings are brilliant at taking things for granted. I was lucky enough to have been given a wake-up call. I thought "I what to make a difference" but I didn't consider exactly why a difference was needed in the first place. I just knew that there were elements of the way people think and live that were out of skew with the way we should be approaching life in order to all have the best chance of achieving fulfillment. It occurred to me that there were many people who had never even considered this, and were, therefore, unaware of how unfulfilled their lives were. I considered myself to have seen ‘the light’ and began thinking of ways I could facilitate a change of attitude in others. On reflection, this process, although arrogant and naïve, was my way of articulating the fact that I believe society, as I have experienced it, fails to encourage self-actualisation, but that we all have a responsibility to become fulfilled individuals. Without an understanding of who we are we revert to expressing ourselves in the most basic terms. This leads to a more self-centered way of life, which perpetuates the disintegration of society.

I was fortunate to be offered the chance to get involved with Remix, Bristol’s Youth Music Action Zone, and began delivering songwriting workshops to teenagers at the Colston Hall every Saturday. At first, the only practice I was aware of was what I had experienced. Youth Music was 4 years old at that stage and I was unaware of any other practitioners outside of the 5 or 6 of us delivering for Remix. I certainly didn’t feel plugged in to anything larger, and hadn’t begun to realise what a great opportunity this was to ‘make a difference.’ Gradually, I became more interested in building a career, and so began to look into training and development. Fortunately, this change in attitude coincided with the start of Youth Music’s MusicLeader programme. I came into contact with and learned from other Music Leaders by attending training and networking sessions around the region. Meeting trainers such as Ray Bradfield, Al Summers, Phil Mullen, Tony Gee, and Tim Steiner has given me the opportunity to discuss the place of music as an agent of change and personal development. This has made me realise the scope and potential of the arts in general, and music in particular, as learning and creativity catalysts. I learned about educational philosophy and heard about authors of well-regarded educational literature. I benefitted from conversations around methods and approaches, and practice and context. I met more and more like-minded individuals and gradually built up a network of contacts within the industry. This lead to further work and more experience for me, which, on reflection, has helped improve my own practice. I realised, through reading the likes of Friere and Goleman, and talking to countless others about the subject that understanding the nature of the individual’s place within society is key to getting a handle on the role that participatory arts has to play in today’s world. If we take Maslow's hierarchy of needs as a basis of idealistic human development we can begin to see how, in pre industrial society, the steps to self-actualisation would have formed a much more integral part of the individuals’ growth within the culture of their community. This is because the personal development of the individual directly benefitted society. As society becomes more industrialised, the need for human wellbeing is less integral to society’s affluence, and so the link between a successful society and the self-actualisation of its citizens has all but disappeared. The responsibility for redressing the balance falls upon the shoulders of those who have the power to stimulate change. I feel privileged to be counted among that number.

I am also a recording and giggig musician. I play drums in Bristol band, cLuMsY.