TRJE: After The Concert

After being out of town for five days and missing the Back From Afrika concert, I felt somewhat out of the loop but was warmly welcomed. I had arrived early again but soon Dr. Cain showed up. While we were waiting for the others to arrive, I spotted what looked like a familiar face standing alone on the other side of the room. She appeared to be a newcomer also so I went over to talk to her. I could relate to her feeling of nervousness since it is always difficult to enter a new community of any type. After talking together, I realized I had known her mother years ago when we were both La Leche League leaders. Now she had brought her son to observe and perhaps join the ensemble. He had been to the concert the previous weekend and was very interested in drumming.
Everyone seemed to arrive at the same time and we formed a large circle, seamlessly incorporating the newcomers within the group. The libation ritual began right away. This time I wasn’t the oldest person present so Akin gave permission to begin the ritual. Since it appeared the plant that was previously used had passed on over with the people we were honoring, a beautiful African violet took its place. Malik proposed the lead-in question this week: If you could go back and change one thing about your life, what would it be? This was an excellent question and caused a lot of deep thought. While some regretted the lack of time spent with family members, the majority of regrets were about not having studied hard enough in school and how that was now causing hardships. Surprisingly, a few of the students were fortunate enough to not have any regrets. Tyrone was the last to speak and he drove home the importance of living life in a way in which we will have no regrets. He pointed out how we should consider our behavior before we act, as our actions cannot be reversed. He then reprimanded the group for attitude problems they had exhibited while having their pictures taken after the concert the weekend before. He stressed the importance of the word “’ensemble” in the group’s name and how that denotes a cohesiveness among the group. Each member’s behavior is a reflection of all the others in the group. This image may be the only illustration outsiders have of the group as a whole so each member’s behavior in public is extremely important.
The group broke up and after the usual flurry of activity a circle of drummers began practicing in the main rehearsal room. Mary Ann and I noticed that some of the students were missing so we went off to find them. In the room next door, the novice drummers were being taught by Julia and Tyrone. Julia graciously invited Mary Ann and I to join them so we set up a couple drums and started pounding away. At first I was having a difficult time establishing the correct tempo but then one of the lead jenbe drummers came by with two sticks and silently (not a word was spoken) demonstrated the correct technique and tempo and with body language invited me to join in with her. When she left, I was then able to keep pace with only a few minor mixups. Some of the drummers were quite young but they worked very hard to keep time with the others. There were several other new drummers there and everyone was accepting and patient as we all struggled to master the technique. As the lunch break neared, we were each asked to play solo and we all did surprisingly well. In the hall afterward, Julia mentioned how much easier it was to work with the little ones since Mary Ann and I were present. It was then that I realized I was not just a fly on the wall, but actually performed a silent function. How many communities are we a part of in which we don’t consider our importance but in reality we would be sorely missed if we weren’t present?