Background music…

I spend hours in my wee pottery studio – it is in the cellar of our house. It’s a wonderful space to share with others, a family member or friend doing pottery at the same time or beginners there to learn, which is always a joy. But more often than not, it’s just me.  I am realising that I don’t often do silence as often as I thought I would – on the first step in to the pottery I reach for the light switch and on the second step in I reach to switch on some sounds!  You can read more below…

My station of choice is Radio 4. You might have noticed that already if you follow me on Facebook. It’s a bit of an addiction I think. I have tried to listen to new stations, stretch my horizons a little, but it doesn’t last long. There is a rhythm to my day with Radio 4. One of my favourite programmes is Desert Island Discs. I just  love listening to folks’ music choices. One Hogmanay our groups of friends all chose four songs each that they would take to a desert – it was amazing what we learnt about one another even having been friends for so many years.

But – with poetry and words featuring on so much of what we do I have realised that talking stations don’t work! I keep putting the wrong word in – I have even fired some with random words or repeated words, which is really frustrating! So that’s when my MP3 player comes into its own. It only works on ‘random’ these days – too much clay and dust! It seems my collection is very random too! Pottery is such a therapeutic thing to do – it really slows me down, and I have to focus on what I am doing, so I love classical music. It can drift through the space and not distract me and it adds to the feeling of stillness. I particularly love Bach – such a steady rhythm. Here is a clip of my favourite piece –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCicM6i59

But having said all that, when the thinking and designing and making is all done, and the pieces have been fired, then comes the glazing… It’s a funny process – getting things out of the kiln when they are glazed is so exciting, but doing the actual glazing can be quite a chore. That’s when the random songs are best – songs to sing along to, try and learn the words to, hum melodies to – good job the neighbours are’t very close – and songs with meaning and connection. I relish my times in the wee pottery, and feel so lucky that pottery is the craft that chose me – there is so much to lose myself in and a space I can make my own, and Radio 4 and my random collection of music fit in just nicely.