Last night was the first session of the drum circle. There were six of us, which turned out to be a good number.
So of course, I get to Lyssa's house, and one of the first things she says is "Oh, just so you know, I hate you now." She's seen the picture on this here web page... A little bit jealous (you have to picture it with that holding-finger-and-thumb-slightly-apart gesture...). Thanks once more to Amy for the help getting it put up. I again gave Dad credit for the picture itself.
Then there was dinner, which centered around a fabulous apple-and-leek-and-a-couple-other-yummy-things soup. Some nutmeg cut the sweetness a little and added a good hint of earthy that rounded it out very well. So Lyssa gets credit for that and for hosting such a weird bunch.
There were a variety of drums and related instruments. A couple of cool rattles, and a frog. The frog was wood, with a stick to run along ridges on its spine. It made a very good frog croak, and when it was used really contributed.
I had a great time. As dinner wound down Sam picked up one drum and started a slow, soft beat that started as just a background to the conversations. And then, almost suddenly, we all just joined in. Nobody said, hey let's get started. Someone joined Sam, and in under a minute we all had. That first song went for probably 15 minutes or so, although from the time we started I never once wondered what time it was. I didn't care.
At first my drum seemed small and simple--almost a beginner's drum. But no. He has a voice. Sometimes it's a quiet voice, and yet he can speak up and sing. I got compliments on him and he and I got to know each other.
I also got to allay some of my fears of having difficulty with rhythm. I think I did rather well, actually. I did good accompaniment with mine. At one point I was given one of the bigger ones to set the rhythm for the rest. It was a different experience focusing on keeping one rhythm without following the others...letting them follow me.
I'm very much looking forward to the next one. Today, however I have to work. Making up hours staying home letting Amy rest and sleep. So it'll be six hours, which is at least a shorter day. There will be a few of us in working on some outbound-call projects.
Work is pretty much requiring one Saturday a month for a month or two. We get lists of customers who have appliances affected by the recall. Sometimes a distributor will give us a list of contractors they've sold parts to. We contact the contractors and they give us lists of homeowners. So now there's a long list of calls to make that we've been falling further and further behind on. But that's for another time...
Posted by fictionman at March 19, 2005 07:48 AM | TrackBack (1)