The Wild Woman of the Drums

It was in 2002, twenty-two years ago, that I taught a Jazz Course in Taipei to some 80 teachers. At the beginning, I asked the group how many had some jazz background. Not a single hand was raised. “How many listen to jazz?” A few hands. “”Have you heard of Louis Armstrong? Ella Fitzgerald? Miles Davis?” Nobody. “Then why are you here?” One person answered, “We’re curious. “

 

Good enough for me—and off we went. By the second day, I noticed one woman who seemed to love the drumset and before long, she was playing with such enthusiasm and gusto I dubbed her “the wild woman of the drums!” With great appreciation.

 

Yesterday, the Taipei American School aired my movie and since tomorrow, I’m teaching another two-day course to the members of the Taiwan Orff Association, I invited them to the film. Five of them came and after the film, one of them came up to me and said “I’m Sherry.  Do you remember me?” At first, I had to fake it a little. “Well, you look familiar” and then the light bulb switched on, “Wait! Are you the woman who played the drums in that Jazz Course I taught?!” And indeed it was. 

 

A four-day course twenty-two years ago with hundreds of other courses I’ve taught since to thousands of other people. And yet I remembered her. How could this be?!!!

 

Welcome to the Orff approach to teaching. Though it’s not a sure-fire guarantee to such memory and I do have some innate talent for such remembrance, the way we teach using so many different media, the way we invite all to show their character and spirit through the creative act, helps make each person memorable. I felt the same thing when I took the risk of going around the circle in my recent Australian class and on the third day, naming each of the 36 participants because I associated each with a memorable moment when they played a solo or made up a fun dance motion or sang with great gusto.

 

Likewise, watching my film for the 10^th time, I could name just about every one of the 100 plus children shown in the film, some from as far back as 1975. We all share the feeling that we are worthy of remembrance and it is music and dance taught in this way that helps make that possible. I imagine it meant as much to Sherry to be remembered as it did to me to remember her. 

 

And I most certainly will let her play the drums this weekend!