Looking For The Next Little Drummer Boy or Girl

AT FIRST YOU THINK YOU HEAR IT, but maybe it’s an auditory illusion, an aural mirage born of anticipation. Now though; for certain. There it is, the distance sounds of a marching band drumline. At first, standing along the parade route, you hear it and then you feel, then they come into view. It’s a powerful thing, at least to an aspiring young drummer who’s been banging on pots with wooden spoons since his first Christmas parade.

Words can’t express, so I’ve included a video, if you’re so inclined, to one of the finest drumlines in the nation, the Cadets drumcorp. Notice the near perfect precision, the dynamics, the textures. This is the product of hours of individual and team practice and discipline.

yea.org

Among my favorite childhood memories is going with my family to downtown Tulsa for the Christmas parade, hearing the distance drum cadence of that first marching band as they approached. 

Not too many years later I got to be in a drumline in that wonderful parade and on marching fields and parade routes from Tulsa to Washington D.C. across Canada and Europe. And, to this day, half a century later, I still love to sit at a drum set and play. I am so grateful to my parents for making all that possible and for band directors, percussion teachers, mentors and role models for cultivating the seeds. 

I have two sons. I am happy to say that they are both fine drummers. Watching them learn to play and develop their own style was so fun. And, they are still playing today.

Much has been written about the research done on the value of music and music education to a broader education application. Study after study confirms the impact on student grades, discipline and even school attendance. Let’s not forget the impact of music therapies of all kinds: physical, emotional, mental and certainly spiritual.

I am saddened and concerned knowing that school music programs are being cut or eliminated because of dire financial straits in our educational system, but also by misguided motives and priorities and politics. 

I am also concerned that our churches, once a fertile ground for budding musicians to have an opportunity to grow and develop have structured worship music more like a concert, with young aspiring musicians relegated to the role of spectator.

So, where are the seedbeds, opportunities, the classrooms, the labs, the practice rooms, the studios, the stages for the next generation of musicians? Maybe it will still happen in quiet, individual ways and on YouTube. Maybe for many they will never know the wonder of getting their first instrument for fifth grade band and discovering the richness of music.

Scripture says that old men will dream dreams. Well, I’ve been dreaming. I’ve managed to gather some resources, not a lot, but some, and I want to use these resources to help the next little drummer girl or drummer boy get their start, by helping them get the instrument they need and maybe a few lessons to get them off to a good start.

I’m not interested in just buying drums and sticks so some kid can drive his mother to insanity. The percussive arts aren’t for everyone, yet in a way they are. All music takes a lot of practice and commitment. Of course, not all will play like the Cadets Drumline, or Jack DeJohnette, or John Bonham, or Eric Harland, but they can, with practice and hard work, find joy and a sense of accomplishment, and make a difference.

So, maybe you can help me find the next one. Do you know of someone, maybe in the 8 to 14 or so age range, who has shown musical interest, who would have some level of encouragement from home, but may not have the resources to get the equipment or expertise to get started?

Feel free to reach out to me. My email is hey.pops.hey@gmail.com

Maybe you’re someone who would want to join in and help a young drummer get a start. Maybe you have a snare drum, a decent drum set, or a few cymbals stacked up, gathering dust in a corner, that you would want to donate. Let me know.

You can have a parade without horses or floats, or “Miss Whatever” perched on the back of a convertible. You don’t even have to have a Santa Claus at the tail end. But, there’s no way to have a parade without a drumline (and I mean that in a big, broad metaphorical sense).

Put your fingers on the inside of your wrist. If you can’t feel the pulse of your internal rhythm section—your parade has passed. The cadence is that important.

The beat goes on, the beat goes on
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
La de da de de, la de da de da
— Sonny & Cher

2017 Retrospective

It’s the time to reflect on the year past and take a peak forward. I’ve seen numerous Best of 2017 lists, so I’m playing along. I realize, by the way, that some of my picks didn’t actually happen/release in 2017, but still they’re my favorites (not necessarily in any particular order).

My 5 favorite books of 2017

• All the Light We Cannot See — Anthony Doerr
• News of the World — Paulette Jiles
• Falling Upward — Richard Rohr
• Letterman, The Last Giant of Late Night — Jason Zinoman
• A Gentleman in Moscow — Amor Towles

My 5 favorite movies I watched in 2017

• Paterson
• Hidden Figures
• Brooklyn
• Good Will Hunting
• Moana (…only because I watched it with the Grand-Girls and I loved the way they always had to tell me what was going to happen before it happend and then afterward explain to me why it happened, and of course listening to them sing along with every song, at the top of their lungs, without shame or apology. Maybe that’s what happens when they watch movies about fierce young women.)

My 5 favorite TV shows of 2017

• Big Bang Theory
• The Blacklist
• The Crown
• Thunder Basketball
• CBS Sunday Morning

My 5 favorite albums of 2017

• I Long to See You — Charles Lloyd & The Marvels
• The White Album — The Beatles
• Fleet Foxes — Fleet Foxes
• Paradise — The Wood Brothers
• So Familiar — Steve Martin & Edie Brickell

My 5 favorite songs of 2017

• Joleen — Pentatonix featuring Dolly Parton
• Spanish Harlem — Rebecca Pidgeon, The Raven
• Voyager-Live By Night — Eric Harland
• America — First Aid Kit
• Round Here — Counting Crows

My 5 things I wish could end along with 2017

• Politician arrogance
• Mosquitoes
• Scorpions
• TV ads for prescription drugs
• Hate

My 5 things I hope to have more of in 2018

• Family time
• Travel
• Pho
• Hanging out with creative people
• Peace

The Stat Sheet

I’ve noticed a turn of phrase used by sportscasters and commentators these days, they speak of players that “do a lot of things that don’t show up on the stat sheet.”

If you watch OKC Thunder basketball games on TV you’ll hear them make this comment about guys like André Roberson. He doesn’t score many points at all, and in fact when he shoots he seldom even hits the rim. Yet, he’s a starter. Why? Because his contribution doesn’t show up on the stat sheet. No one on the Thunder team works harder, gives more or defines team-player more than André. His defensive effort is relentless.

Our culture, more than ever, however, prizes and praises those that light up the stat sheets, and not just among athletes. We have data and stat sheets on everything. Even our current POTUS loves to brag about his own stat sheet. Metrics matter; to some.

I use a web service called Squarespace to publish this blog. In the Squarespace tools are analytics where you can see how your blog is doing in terms of traffic to the site. I seldom look at the reports because I’m not trying to reach the masses. I’m too out of touch to be a masses kind of guy, and anyway, at the risk of sounding like the grapes are sour, the masses are a fickle lot.

However, the other day I got an email from Squarespace telling me about a new analytical tool where I can see geographically where the readers of About POPS are located. Now that’s just interesting. I assumed that there would be two dots: one at my house and one at my mother’s house.

Boy, was I surprised. Here’s the latest report:

I’m assuming that all the visitors from China on down with the exception of maybe France and Australia, are probably dark web hacker types out to steal my identity and dignity.

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Let’s talk about Christmas, the birthday of a King, the type that had to have been a huge disappointment to those expecting a big stat sheet kind of king. A big-league, loud, in your face, flamboyant kind of dude. (I started to add that they expected one of those tell-it-like-it-is kinda guys, but He was that and it turns out they didn’t really want to hear-it-like-it-is; and we don’t either.)

Remember the Ray Stevens song, the one with the chorus that went (asking about Jesus):

Would He wear a pinky ring, would He drive a brand new car?
Would His wife wear furs and diamonds, would His dressin' room have a star?
If He came back tomorrow, well there's somethin' I'd like to know
Could ya tell me, would Jesus wear a Rolex on His television show?

Without a doubt, my favorite painting of Mary and Jesus is the one painted by Caravaggio called “Madonna di Loreto”.

I love it because of the humanity of it. The realness. The rawness. Two pilgrims, not bearing gold, frankinscense, or myrrh; just two people, who likely won’t show up on any stat sheet other than the one thats says they were born and they died, kneeling in a moment of awe of a baby who would one day be their savior. And, He was a lot like them… human, poor, frail and humble; just the way God planned it, and of whom it is written:

Jesus Christ, Who, being in very nature God,
        did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 
        but made himself nothing,
        taking the very nature of a servant,
        being made in human likeness. 
And being found in appearance as a man,
        he humbled himself
        and became obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

Philippians 2:6-8
        

The other day, prompted by a friend, I wrote this in my journal:

Christmas—it has been:
Commercialized
Sentimentalized
Romanticized
And now politicized
If only it could be realized.

To culturally update Ray Stevens song: Would Jesus care how many Twitter followers He had? Maybe he’s looking for a different kind of follower—the kind that doesn’t always show up on the stat sheet.

PEACE Everyone across the USA and beyond, and to you 11 Aussies.

Christmas Carols & Cracker Barrels

A FEW NIGHTS AGO, on the road near Gainesville, Texas, we were road-weary and ready to eat. It was dark and cool. If you’re hungry on a winter night and you see a Cracker Barrel sign, somehow it just seems right. The place was nearly empty, but a big fire was going, and a game board of giant checkers was set up and ready for any pair wanting to rock and play a game.

My Amazing-Missus was browsing the gift shop, I was seated by Rachel, with four stars on her apron, to have a cup of coffee. Playing over the sound system was a “Christmas” song I had never heard before. It was like a caricature of song, sort of a mash-up between bluegrass and country/western called, “Call Collect on Christmas.”

With a little research I found it was recorded by a guy named Del McCoury, about a drifter who was recalling, following the passing of his dear mother, that her last request was that he call her collect on Christmas. I bet his mother would have loved Cracker Barrel.

Christmas music is one of those things people either love or not. I know some who start listening to Christmas tunes as soon as Hobby Lobby puts up their yuletide decorations on July 5 every year. On a scale of Love It on the left, to Hate It on the right, I (as I do politically) tend to be somewhere near the middle but leaning left.

One of the things I love is discovering new tunes and arrangments. Don’t get me wrong, I love the classic carols and songs like Dean Martin’s version of “Silver Bells” and “Mele Kalikimaka” by Bing Crosby.

Remember The Band, that band from the 60s? Surely you know their big hit, “The Weight”? Well, a guy from The Band wrote and they recorded a song called “Christmas Must Be Tonight”. It’s a wonderful song.

A while back, a fresh young group called Bahamas covered the song and it is one of my annual favorites. Their arrangement is delightful on so many levels. Here is a link to the song on YouTube. Enjoy, and by all means put on your best set of headphones to savor every slide guitar chord, every wonderful lyric and each and every “shoop, shoop woow” of the backup singers.

Bahamas. Christmas must be tonight

Christmas music is so memorable, in my opinion, because these tunes have the most beautiful melodies ever written. "The Wexford Carol" is a example of what I mean. Fortunately, for us all there is an arrangement of this carol recorded by Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss. Check it out.

Yo-Yo Ma, Alison Krauss. The Wexford Carol

Oh, and if you would like to give a listen to Del sing his broken hearted little ditty about his poor lonesome momma, it’s on YouTube too (and playing at a Cracker Barrel near you). I recommend you listen to it while enjoying a hot cup of coffee and a biscuit slathered with apple butter.

Del McCourt. Call Collect on Christmas

I have to include one more. This is Nataly Dawn, one of my favorites. She is so multi-talented. I recommend you pair this with gingerbread cookie and a mug of mulled-wine.

Snow. Nataly Dawn

I would love to hear from you. What are your favorite Christmas tunes and arrangements?