As a musician, one of the things I miss most during lockdown is making music with friends. But I came up with a creative solution, that went on to be a bit hit for Father’s Day: I got together with a pianist friend (she in her house in Esher, me in mine in Guildford), and we put on a live-stream broadcast concert performance of “Paddington Bear’s First Concert.” My friend played the piano, while I narrated the story. We invited kids from all around the world to submit their favourite drawings of Paddington, which we displayed during the concert. We also put some pre-concert videos together, to teach kids how to make musical/percussion instruments, so they could play along with us.
Having ADHD used to make me feel like I had limited abilities, but it turns out, projects like these really depend on my kind of brain-wiring. The ability to think outside the box, and come up with creative ways to bring art and music together, is one of my greatest ADHD abilities.
Liz Franklin-Kitchen