The Beat Goes On

 I was going to title this entry: One Word. And my entire post was going to be: 

Valkries!

 

People in San Francisco would have understood. A mere two years as a team, our fair city’s Women’s NBA Team (WBNA) won the championship on Halloween night in the 7^th game of the playoff. How I wish I could have been at Yancey’s Sports Bar on Irving Street and experience the jubilation of the patrons as I have before with the Warriors and Giants. But watching the highlights was enough to start my day with tears. Of joy.  While it still bothers my compassionate self to know that the other team walked off the court disappointed, I’ve been hard-wired to exult in these epic victories and there is some sense of glory, alongside the deep communion and ecstatic euphoria of the fans. I challenge even the most tranquil Zen master to not feel a least a twinge of the rush the roar of the crowd unleashes. 

 

From there, I went to the last day of a different kind of euphoria where everyone wins, my last workshop in this most marvelous three-week tour. Two days in London, two days in Izmir, two days in Istanbul, two days in Koaceli, two days in Athens. 10 workshops with over 300 beautiful souls and the deep satisfaction as, before departing, so many looked me in the eye, touched their heart and said “Thank you.” And I sent the same feeling back to each of them. 

Then off to dinner with five of the organizers, one of whom I had crossed paths with many times in Salzburg in the 90’s but hadn’t seen for over 30 years! The re-connection was immediate and we enjoyed a nostalgic tour through our memories over some excellent souvlaki, tzatziki and other delicious dishes. Bittersweet to remember moments with some Orff folks who have passed on and marveling at the ones—including us— who are still at it. 

 

Two free days in Athens ahead and then on my way to my 43^rd American Orff Conference in Richmond, Virginia. So class is over—for now. I just agreed to sub next week at my old school, teaching my colleague Sofia’s classes. Which of course, will be great fun. And so the beat goes on.

 

I feel so far from ever wanting to stop teaching and the energy from folks in England, Turkey and Greece to get me back again makes me hopeful that opportunity will keep meeting desire. May the beat indeed go on!

Kissing the Joy

The German’s have that word “Schadenfreude” to describe taking pleasure in another’s misfortune. But I wonder if they—or anyone— has a word for being displeased about another’s happiness. Post-Greek-workshop, I am smiling ear-to-ear and would hate to think that a reader might be thinking, “Will you shut up already about being happy?!!” Of course, it’s bad taste to crow too much when good fortune alights and I believe I’ve had my proper proportion of grief and sadness to keep things real and humble. 

 

But when the glad bird of happiness alights on my shoulder, I feel some need to mark the moment, a kind of kissing the joy as it flies (from a Blake poem). Tonight I started the workshop already in grand humor after my walk today and the way that emotion travels through the air, be it happy, sad, angry or bored, from one body to another, there is certainly no shame in being happy. The group was infected by my gladness from the first minute of the 4-hour workshop to the last and that’s a good thing. 

 

But best of all was my decision to bring Halloween into the room (as described in this morning’s post). Truth be told, I rarely teach this ritual event in workshops and it has been six years since I’ve done it with the kids. As I shared a reduced version of it, I felt the full measure of its power, beauty and brilliance, expertly weaving together speech, song, movement, folk dance, percussion sound effects, Orff ensemble, recorder and drama. The Greek folks were mesmerized, entranced and thoroughly delighted by it all and I was in heaven hearing these sounds again and reviving the muscle memory of all those years of doing it with kids. 

 

And the icing on the cake was ending the workshop with the aforementioned Skin and Bones song and scaring one delightful student so much that she yelped out loud! 

 

Did I mention how happy I am?

 

 

Confessions of a Traveling Music Teacher

Well, that title was the mission statement for this Blog when I started 15 years ago. And while many of the posts follow that theme, probably a good 50% is just about whatever is on my mind. 

 

But today is a good testimony to the moment when the pleasure of sharing what I know, carrying my repertoire and culture into the room of wherever I may be, is beautifully balanced with leaving that suitcase behind and wandering unencumbered through the streets of a new place—or at least a new neighborhood. The former starts in a couple of hours, unusually so as many of the participants are teaching in Saturday music studios. Thus a 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm workshop instead of a 9 to 5 one. 

 

That gave me the morning to wander and wonder up the pedestrian Diogenes Street up to the Acropolis. Such grand pleasure dropping all my selves and identities and just strolling anonymously. No need to stand in line for the 30 Euro ticket to get into the more inner sanctum. Pleasure enough to just to join the throng of tourists and see what seemed worthy of my camera. After the grand sweeping panoramas views looking outward and downward and the stirring site of the Parthenon atop the Acropolis, I descended into twisting intimate alleys and loved that as well. (Just for the record, I’ve been a paying tourist at the Parthenon at least three other times, so it made it easy to forego it today). 

As things flattened out, it was the churches, squares and of course, shops, shops, shops. Again, happy not to need a single thing, but curious to window shop. The restaurants and cafes were beginning to fill as lunchtime approached and it was tempted to grab a table. But the economical young traveler by need who first walked these streets in 1978 is now the economical- by- habit elder who takes food from the hotel breakfast to be enjoyed for free (shhh!) at lunch. An overcast but mild temperature day, I’m stepping out to my little terrace/patio to enjoy it all— the food, the view, the fresh air, the echo in the muscles of the 10,000 steps taken. 

 

Combining the solitude of wandering with the exuberance of playing, singing and dancing with the Orff students with the architecture, food, feel of a refreshingly different culture with the pleasure of dinner after with old or new friends— today could be the poster child for the Traveling Music Teacher’s Mission Statement. 

 

As always, I am grateful.  

Intery Mintery Comes to Greece

Today is Halloween. One feature of holidays is the opportunity to recall where you were on this day in other years of your life. A great conversation starter—“What was your most memorable ____________? (insert holiday of choice or birthday).”

 

I’ve had memorable Halloweens at Antioch College (full confession—one of the most intense of the eight LSD trips I took back then), in the mountains of North Carolina at a Quaker Boarding School, in my first celebration at The San Francisco School where we had a costume parade and contest. My wife worked so hard sewing a costume and I woke up that morning, put on my overalls, went to the horse stables in the park to gather some hay and stuff it in my overalls, grabbed an old hat and that thrown-together scarecrow costume won first prize!!! My wife was not happy. :-)

 

Halloween became a favorite at the school as I created a unique Intery Mintery ritual performance with all 100 elementary students somewhere around 1984 and it continued unbroken until my last one in 2019— and still continues unbroken today with colleagues James and Sofia. (The whole performance was captured on film and viewable at www.thesecretsongfilm.com). After the performance, the Middle School hosted various booths and a haunted house and we ended with me telling a scary story back in the music room. And then ending that with the classic Skin and Bones song when I make the whole room jump with a BOO!!! erupting in an unpredictable place in the song.  My favorite day in the whole world!!! 

And then made more fabulous between 2013-2019 when James, Sofia and I took our Interns from around the world (Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Finland, Czech Republic, Turkey, Iran, Philippines, China, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, Brazil  and various US states) to Belvedere Street for one of the most spectacular Halloween celebrations you can find anywhere. 

 

And so on this Halloween, I awaken in Athens, Greece, also the site of a memorable Thanksgiving my wife and I spent here in 1978 at the beginning of our trip around the world. Our Thanksgiving dinner was moussaka, mashed potatoes and Greek salad and that night, we went to the airport to fly to India via Cairo. A most memorable time indeed!

 

So with a morning free, I hope to walk to the Acropolis and then in today’s class, re-create a version of Intery Mintery to share as a model of an integrated performance, with a chant, song sung in canon, percussion instrument sound effects, Orff instrument ensemble accompaniment, alto and soprano recorders, creative movement and drama. 

 

The day Intery Mintery came to Greece. That should be memorable!

  

Loverly.

A 6:00 am rising in Istanbul, a long hour plus ride to the airport, a long 45-minute wait for the ticket counter to open, another 45 minutes in the plane waiting for it to get moving. The usual trudge of travel. Then a 90-minute flight to Athens and off the plane to Passport Control to a room filled with perhaps a thousand people. Moving at a glacial pace. With my ride waiting for me in the cell phone lot. I told her I hoped she had a good book and then remembered that I had one and took out my David Copperfield. Inched long a few feet for every page while David reviewed his years at high school and the two women he fell helplessly in love with before anyone had ever coined the phrase “puppy love.” Then suddenly, the line was moving fast and in some grand labyrinth dance, we snaked around some 25 turning paths in a row before slowing down again for the final laps to the people in the passport booths. When I got within 15 people, the end of the labyrinth in site, I was rewarded with Milt Jackson playing vibes on Autumn Leaves on some speaker somewhere. That was a surprise! 

 

One hour since deplaning, I finally emerged into baggage claim, got my bag that beat me there and had been patiently looping around waiting for me and was finally released into the fresh air of a sunny Greek day, picked up 5-minutes later by my new host, Maria. 

 

Unlike most places I go these days, I haven’t taught in Greece for quite a while, only one Greek person studied with us in the Levels Course in California and one more in the Salzburg Special Course over the last three decades. There are a few I know from the Salzburg summer courses, but only a handful. But by the time we drove into Athens proper, Maria and I already felt like old friends. When she dropped me at my hotel, it had been 10 hours since my Istanbul alarm clock!

 

I loved staying at my friends’ Ezo and Sencer’s house—they were great hosts and I think I was a decent guest. But there’s something about the solitude of hotel rooms that I love and I was so happy settling in for the next five nights. The pleasure of unpacking my suitcase and hanging my clothes (they actually had enough hangars!), charging all my devices, arranging books at the bedside table. The room has a terrace with a big glass door that I can open and close (great for controlling temperature). Great reading lights by the bed, something I often miss in the guest bedrooms I stay in. Lighting matters.

 

Once I got settled, I took off into the neighborhood to see about dinner possibilities and found a store with many pre-made meals. Got a Greek salad for a mere 5 Euros and nice to spend actual money again and have the independence to both shop and pay for things myself. Made a slight mistake by not noticing clearly enough the little turns I had made walking to this plaza and returning back, went down a couple of the wrong spokes. I didn’t quite remember the name of the hotel, had left my phone in the room to charge so even if I did remember the name, couldn’t use the GPS. So my old reliable instinct to ask for help from people did it's work and the two people I asked figured out that they could upload from the QR code on my hotel room key and find both the name and location— and lucky for me, they could! And did!

 

Made it back, enjoyed the salad on the terrace and settling in for a cozy evening before my next two days of workshops.  While writing this, thought I’d let Youtube serenade me and stumbled on the perfect song for the occasion: Wouldn’t It Be Loverly played by pianist Fred Hersch. 

 

“All I want is a room somewhere
Far away from the cold night air
With one enormous chair
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?”

 

That’s exactly what I’ve got tonight. And I can testify: It’s loverly. 

Phoenix Rising

Yesterday was Turkey Republic Day, everyone wearing red, flags everywhere, thousands in the streets and huge speakers every few blocks with ear-shattering rock-style Turkish music. Finally I had the good sense to ask about Attaturk, whose photo is everywhere all the time, but even more so on this day. I mistakenly had assumed it was like Mao everywhere in China, a dictator demanding adoration and manufacturing compliance. But in fact, he was the one who freed Turkey from the Sultan’s Reign and in his own style, proclaimed “No Kings!” He created a democracy where the people voted, religion was separated from State and women had equal rights. Like in my own country, the current Turkish President has been trying to return their democracy to the Dark Ages and somewhat succeeded in the last twenty plus years of his reign, conveniently sending his opponents to jail. So it made a day celebrating the birth of Turkish Democracy both more meaningful and bittersweet. 

 

The people I know in Turkey, the people I know in China, the people I know in Iran and the people I know in the United States are all 100% staunch advocates of genuine freedom, justice, truth and beauty. All the good stuff. Just wanting to just get on with their lives without the constant shadow of tyranny. Hoping alongside Langston Hughes that their homeland be a place of kindness, not cruelty: 

 

“Let my land be that great strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man be crushed by one above.”

Yet these broken small boys in adult bodies try to fill the gaping holes in their soul by trying to crush others. Three countries just refused them—Brazil, Hungary, Turkey. Let's keep going!

 

I write this in the Istanbul Airport, about to wing to Athens, birthplace of Democracy. Maybe significant that I’ll be there next Tuesday when the direction of the next two years is decided by American voters. Another good omen? As was the mural of the Phoenix Rising I saw in Istanbul. May it be so!

 

Mind-Blowing Granola

Yesterday began at the lovely local café with a bowl of “mind-blowing granola” (as described on the menu) and a café cortado. It’s a regular for my host Ezo and her dog Samba. From there, to the preschool named for her and a little ceremony where the 3 and 4-year-olds recited special little poems in honor of the coming national holiday celebrating the Turkish Republic. Where the adult point of view is that they’re learning to be loyal (and perhaps over-obedient and compliant) citizens, my wish was that the adults watch them dance so joyfully to the music the teachers put on and follow them. Recover our childlike innocence and delight covered over by so many layers of being “educated” into a dubious adulthood. 

 

Afterwards, I took a solitary walk along the water’s edge while Ezo took her daughter to a doctor’s appointment and loved the feeling of just wandering alone. Found a lovely park populated by cats, cats, cats (everywhere in Istanbul!) and people sitting on benches enjoying the view and on the way back, passed a man in a parking lot kiosk listening to a recording of Ella Fitzgerald singing Someone to Watch Over Me. I came over, told him Ella’s name and the song’s name and sang along a bit and we were both delighted.

 

Then friends Ilkay and Sibel came to Ezo’s house and we recorded a little music example for my upcoming Podcast. First time I’ve had guests and we had so much fun, including making mistakes and erupting into infectious laughter. Ilkay had arranged one more evening workshop for me to teach parents of kids to help them understand a larger definition of music and I was really excited about it. But worried about rain, 8 out of the 13 cancelled. Understood that they didn’t have any skin in the game and thus, no deep motivation to honor their commitment, but still disappointing. But the bright side was this delightful opportunity to record this little bit of a Podcast. And then go out to a fabulous Turkish restaurant for the full treatment of this marvelous cuisine, including Mr. Never-Been-Drunk (me) drinking some rake in small sips and starting to feel a pleasant buzz. Followed by an evening stroll to a gelato place. 

 

No more work for me here, just a full day to see how Turkey celebrates Republic Day, with great hope in my heart with the recent elections in Brasil, Syria and Hungary. May the U.S., Turkey, Israel and Russia follow suit and throw the bastards out! 

 

Throughout this most wonderful day, I carried the cloud of worry over my daughter Kerala who suffered from a mysterious upper-back pain that had her lying for hours unable to move in great pain. With no one nearby to drive the kids to their various events. But good news this morning. It’s a pinched nerve rather than a herniated disc, she feels better after a trip to the chiropractor, my wife flew up to help drive the kids around and sent me photos of them in their Halloween costumes. And I’m so delighted cool 15-year-old granddaughter Zadie still likes to dress up for Halloween! 

 

With my daughter Talia recovering from her broken foot and Kerala suffering from this, it’s a rough patch for these two most-always-healthy loves of my life. A parent never stops worrying and caring about such things and it was hard to feel so far away. But it feels like the healing forces have gathered and the helpers come around. 

 

May those forces continued to gather, both personally and collectively! Me, I’m off to the café again for another mind-blowing granola breakfast.