playing in public!

Come as you are. Listen. Play what fits. Play with others as often as it fits in to your life. Improve with practice. Play to your ability. Be what you want to be in a group of people playing music. Of COURSE you’re good enough! Learn some common patterns to provide structure and improvise you ass off!

We did that very thing for a drum buddy’s company barbeque Thursday morning. This is what Baba’s Warm-up looked like played within that flexible framework:

This is a band of students. All of us. We have jobs and kids and grandkids and lives that do not revolve around intense study. We are playing. P L A Y I N G. We are not a performance troupe. We’re pretty much a bunch of ordinary citizens that get together each week, learn, share and play. None of us have the irrational sense of humor [or time or money] to quit our lives to become Rich And Famous Drummers [hahahaha!]  So we just play comfortably and casually together. Sometimes we play in class. Sometimes we play with a few scattered observers. Sometimes we play in front of 300 people.

I used to get so nervous when I was going to perform. It was early in my drumming when I studied and studied and worked to get it right. I played with very talented drummers and we played ‘traditional’ Guinea music rather well. When I took a leave from study and moved myself into application, it eased up for me. I prepare myself and my crew for a performance. We work it. We make arrangements of songs we’ve practiced and many of those songs are from the Guinea tradition with which those of us in the room are most familiar. But when it comes time to ‘go out there’, we remind each other of how much pleasure we get playing music together. We enjoy each other’s company. We trust each other enough to be able to express our own voice in our own time.  The drum was the common introduction, but the friendships developed have a deeper resonance….

I really want to thank the people who came and played with the most zest I have ever heard! I’d be proud to take you guys anywhere! Our ensemble today was Pam Lane, Erik & Cheryl Carruth, Don ‘the Don’ Silva, Candace Garmon and Luis Cubero. And the guests were blown away [yeah, yeah] by our remarkable didgeridoo playing friend Barry Sherman.  Thank you URS for inviting us back to play.