Of Sugarcoating!

A while ago, a kiddo and I tried doing a really cool art piece that was on social media. It required us to draw and colour 5 circles with crayons. After which, we had to use a cotton bud to smudge  the colours out into shades. The product, as shown on the video, was supposed to be a beautiful multi coloured feather.

So the kiddo and I got to work. We followed the instructions as best as we could. However, I did not have a good feeling when my crayons felt rather stiff as I coloured. The texture did not seem soft or waxy enough to be smudged with a cotton bud. Just as I had expected, when we got to the part where we were supposed to use the cotton bud to smudge the colours, the crayon did not smudge as easily. We perservered, amidst squeaks as the cotton buds scratched on the paper.

Finally, we completed our work and it looked absolutely nothing like what was  shown in the video. In fact it did not even look like burnt ruffled feathers. We sat in silence for a moment. The kiddo looked at the picture and then at me, and said, “This is ugly, right?”

It was. It was the weirdest looking “feather” in my entire life.

I started laughing at the outcome and the kiddo laughed too. There was nothing nice I could say about it and I had a hand in it too. I shared with her what I thought about us having the wrong materials and that we ought to give ourselves a pat on the back for effort. Incidentally, it is one of the pictures that is still up on my wall today.

After the session, I reflected on how our work turned out as well as the kiddo’s remark. It reminded me that whether or not an individual has syndromes or -isms, they are quite capable of appreciating beauty. In the course of teaching and learning music, it is so important to be encouraging yet objective and authentic in our feedback on their work. Appreciating and assessing beauty is something that is rather intrinsic in most of us. Sugarcoating work that has not really met the mark, would be sending a plethora of wrong signals to the learner.

Instead, appreciate their effort and give objective feedback and how to improve!

Scribbling out!