I Escaped, But Only Just - Part 12:  Back In The Community

The move to the new area took place after the summer break, on my first day back at school. More than six years had passed since we'd lived in a Jewish neighbourhood. I was still at the stage where Judaism and the Jewish community meant a lot to me and for the first time since starting at the Jewish High School, I began socialising with others in the evenings.

Sometimes, a few of the guys from my Year would stop by at the house on the way home from school. A group of us took to hanging round a local drugstore in the evenings – much to the annoyance of the owners who eventually got the police onto us after months of rowdiness and cheek.  

The Jewish Youth Club was situated nearby. On Sunday and Thursday evenings, I’d go there with Robin. We'd sit and talk, listen to pop music and smoke cigarettes.  

Both grandmothers lived within walking distance of the new house.  For a while, at least, I felt much a part of the community. School, home and Synagogue.  A promising start that would later turn sour.  

***  
The new music teacher peered at me through his glasses. He was about fifty, tall, and active in one of the local Synagogues.

‘And you know all these things?’ he said after reading the exam requirements for the specialised syllabus, scepticism etched in his eyes.

‘Well, yes,’ I said. ‘I’ve been studying at home.’  

I explained, but he interrupted with, 'There’s a difference between reading a book in your spare time and knowing the syllabus in sufficient detail to pass a very demanding  examination.  No, I’m willing to teach you specialised syllabus, but I can’t enter you in for the examination.’

‘But everyone thinks I’ll pass.’

‘I’m not willing to take the chance. No.’  

‘I’ve put a lot of effort into my studies.’

‘No.’  

‘Can’t I enter myself privately?’

‘No. You will sit the normal music exam with the rest of the class and learn the specialised syllabus with me.’

‘But –

‘No.’       

***

‘Let’s try for grade five piano in the summer,’ my piano teacher said, halfway through term. ‘That’s the standard required to get on an A level music course. I also want you to take grade five music theory. It’s important you do because you won’t be able to take any of the higher grades without it.’

‘I’ve been studying a lot of theory at home. It’s really fascinating.’

‘Excellent. One of my colleagues teaches a class on Tuesday afternoons at the Centre.  You will need to attend after school.’

‘That’s fine.’

'Have you given much thought to Sixth Form College.’

This time it was my turn to nod.

‘Excellent,’ he said when I’d finished explaining. ‘And not far from the Music Centre. You should give it a try.’

***

A few weeks later, my mother drove me to the Sixth Form College to meet the music teacher there.

‘The problem is, you’ve been taught the wrong syllabus,’ the tutor said, with a good-natured laugh. ‘You’ve been studying Musical Appreciation.  If you want to study A level music, you’re going to have to learn rules of harmony first. And you’ve missed out on that because harmony isn’t covered at all in Musical Appreciation.’  

Another letdown.  My mother and I exchanged glances.

‘However,’ she went on. ‘You’re obviously a fast learner. I can lend you a book on four-part harmony. Come to see me again in six weeks.’

So began a pattern that would follow me throughout most of my adult life…I would set myself a goal regardless of the obstacles…someone would recognise a spark of genuine talent and send me away to do the necessary work. ...I would make regular bus or train journey to see the person with the work…they would make further suggestions… I would go away to implement those suggestions. The pattern was, and has always been, a richly rewarding process, as I thrive on those sorts of challenges.

I found four-part harmony easy and thoroughly logical, just as I had with music theory a year or two earlier.  And the tutor at the college was always encouraging during my visits to see her.