Three Homecomings

“Home is where the heart is” is one of those clichés that rings true. You might also say “Home is where the heart has fully opened” and when you find yourself in the physical place where that has happened, the cellular memory of it all kicks in. 

 

So here I am in Salzburg again and this indeed is where my heart has opened time and time again these last 35 years. The whole city, to be sure, but also in the hallowed halls of the Orff Institut, alive with the echoes of Orff’s vision come alive these past 62 years in the place where he laid the cornerstone. The vibrations of the Orff ancestors present and palpable. Likewise the felt presence of all the marvelous people I’ve met here who became such a notable part of my life. First and foremost, my colleague Sofia Lopez-Ibor but then expanding out to so many others from this world over who I first met here and later was invited to teach in their country. Spain, Finland, Iceland, Germany, Italy, Greece, Portugal, England, Estonia, Turkey, Russia, Taiwan, China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Brazil and some 30 more countries! More importantly, such sweet memories of all the stirring music and dance we shared together in rooms 5 and 4 and 27 and 9, the joy and laughter and comradery, the walks and bike rides and lunches in the park and dinners at the biergarten and on and on. So to teach yet another workshop yesterday to yet another Special Course and some 20 others folks in the Orff Institut was indeed a homecoming.

 

The second homecoming was simply yet another opportunity to teach a workshop and create yet again that miniature universe I’ve crafted for over a half-a-century. It was three hours of laughter and tears and my ideal world given body. 

 

The third homecoming is described in this Facebook piece I posted: 

 

At the end of my workshop yesterday at the Orff Institut, I said: 

 

“Never have I been more ashamed to be American and never have I been more proud.” The pride swelled when that night I spent over an hour looking at Youtube videos of the No King Rallies in some 2,000 cities and towns across the country with the millions and millions of American citizens standing together peacefully in strength and humor to say “Enough.” Alongside the contrasting footage of the pathetic tanks rolling down empty streets revealing the empty strength of this soulless pitiful excuse for a human being and his equally dismal enablers. 

 

What happens in America reverberates around the world, where evil is afoot unleashing chaos in the Ukraine, Iran, Colombia and beyond. There were students in the workshop from all those places and we ended singing This Little Light of Mine sending love and light to these countries (including the U.S.) and more. 

 

Not one of us can predict how this will ultimately play out, but I believe the tide is turning and the tsunami of love and compassion and justice and just plain human decency is rising to wash away the cruel and greedy and hateful and deceitful from the halls of power.  Stay together, friends and keep singing!

It’s a beautiful sunny day outside and I’m ready to get out, with three homes alive and singing in my heart.