All Here Together

Among a thousand things that impress me every time I go to Ghana, the co-presence of all ages in all places— especially in the dancing ring— always moves me. It is such a contrast to our structures of kids in schools, adults in workplaces, elders in Homes for the Aged. And then within each echelon, further divisions— preschool/ elementary/ middle/ high school/ college, etc. Even in our alternative life practices, no kids are at the Zen retreats or Orff workshops or jazz clubs. Few white-haired people are boogying in the dance clubs and often far too many at the opera or author interview. 

 

So it was especially sweet yesterday when I helped organize a panel of "Orff elders” at our local Chapter Workshop to commemorate it’s 50^th year. Mostly folks my age (and younger!) who used to come regularly to the workshops or were Past-Presidents on the Board but had now retired from active teaching. Without needing new material or lesson plans for Monday’s class, many naturally stopped coming to the workshops and it turns out we really missed each other. So not only was it a grand pleasure for some 12 out of 25 invited to come to the workshop just to see each other again, but also so fun to actually play, sing & dance as we used to and with the same spirit and skills. Sure, we didn’t leap up off of the floor as spryly as we used to, but impressive that we could at least still sit on the floor!

 

In the 20-minute panel that was scheduled for the day, the old-timers introduced themselves and where they had worked. There were many young teachers there who worked at some of the same schools and now they had a face to connect with the person who had their school buy the Orff instruments they’re using or in one case, write a school song that the kids still sang. They saw and heard from the people who had helped build the chapter, each one often contributing the next new tradition or procedure or suggestion. They heard their testimony about how meaningful it was to their lives to not only find the joys and pleasures of the Orff approach to music, but to find the people who became either still-connected lifelong companions or held fondly in their hearts in their absences. At one point, I said directly to the younger folks, “Imagine you up here in 20 years. I hope you’ll have the same kind of passion and long-term dedication and fun that we did!” 

 

And it was equally fine for the elders to meet the next generation and feel that their work was being carried forward. Sometimes the baton was passed directly to their successors when they left their school, but often they had to imagine it so and sometimes didn’t know whether the race was still being run or not. So again, a special pleasure and treasure to know that here we all were together, runners in the same relay race, all of us dancing to the finish line in the contest between “education and catastrophe” and not only helping education to win, but joyfully and artfully so, with great songs, dances and instrumental music-making. 

 

And thus, it goes on.