Old King Glory

The children’s game “Old King Glory” was the game I played more than any other during my 45 years at The San Francisco School. I played it my first year teaching in 1975 and so looked forward to it being the last game I ever played there as an official music teacher in the school. Alas, the pandemic changed that. But still it holds a special resonance, climbing up a mountain that was “so high, it nearly touched the sky” and asking the people in the circle, be they children or adults, to follow me one by one to take in the marvelous view.

 

That’s what happened this past week in the Jazz Course, back in my old music room with fourteen beautiful souls ready to take the journey and also help point out the things that I might miss. As always, we are all each other’s teachers and students and while I’m often in the front of the line, having taken this journey so many times before, there are many times when I’m in the middle of the pack or even the back. And before we start the ascent, I’m in the circle as just one of many and when we reach the summit, we circle up again.

 

Like all climbs against gravity, it takes effort and intention and determination to take that next step when all the muscles are screaming to stop. Sometimes we slip into some swampy territory, get stuck in the mud, help lift each other and keep moving. On we went and in our closing circle, the testimonies poured forth about the small and big breakthroughs each one made, led by a teacher who knows the dangers and pitfalls and attends as possible to each one’s particular needs, supported and encouraged by the fellow climbers, surprised by the results of their own efforts, discovering that the “can’t do” weight strapped on their backs by uncaring teachers or parents or friends or dysfunctional systems or their own voices of self-doubt could be lifted off and they could dance feely, with a light step and heart. And then, having taken in the view surrounded by love and beauty, the class ends and we all begin our descent to lead our own students and children up the path when we return to our teaching life. 

 

The climbing the mountain metaphor holds up for me, but perhaps even more accurate is our commitment to build our own mountain. Stay tuned for the next post. 

 

Meanwhile, great thanks to each and every one of the people who traveled from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Colombia, the Yukon, Vancouver, Washington,  Oregon, Minnesota, Arizona, Fairfax and Oakland, California to take this glorious trip together. We are now forever united in Jazz, Joy and Justice.