Merry Xmas To Me!

Sometimes something just grabs me and compels me to act. As I sit here now, writing this, I'm still not entirely sure what it was that made today the day I would buy a djembe. It was certainly an impulse buy, as just yesterday I didn't know that I would own one today.  But it was by no means done in a complete vacuum, or without having ever thought about it. No, this is something I've wanted for a few years now, something I knew I'd always have - just not today!

I'm a percussionist at heart.  My wife, my buddies Jon and Ken, and my folks all know that I LOVE drums and percussion.  My favorite parts of live jazz shows are when the typically understated upright bass player gets to break out, traveling the entire neck of the bass, slapping the strings, contorting body and face to squeeze out those notes that I know he loves finding and sharing just for us.  I love taiko drums, seeing them at the Japanese Festival at the Botanical Gardens is always a treat.  I've seen Christian McBride in concert probably 4 times now and love the things I've seen him to on a bass, whether upright or electric, and my buddy Jon has bought me a few Tony Levin CDs over the years.  I've seen Carl Palmer live a few times, seen him go crazy all over an entire drum set.  And I always enjoy finding a CD on e-music that features Art Blakey.  Anyhoo, these are just a few examples of my love of percussion.

I almost played drums as a kid. Almost. I'd moved schools in 7th grade, and thought I'd try out to play drums in the band.  The music teacher was encouraging, and I got to play during music class.  I hadn't had any real instruction, but I had a knack for the snare, and between the music teacher and a cute blond whose name I can't recall, who let me share her drum in class for a few weeks, I was able to get the basics.  I even got one of those rubber pads you put on the snare to dampen the sound to practice on because we couldn't exactly afford a drum, and truth be told, my folks weren't about to buy me a drum set to bang on at the house.  Then I broke my collarbone, and we moved again, and I never looked for another opportunity to play.

So, I know I've always had it in me.  From that failed attempt to play drums in the band, to my love of prog rock and bands like Rush, ELP and King Crimson, to my more recent love of jazz and jazz bass, to exposure to international Japanese and African drums and drum circles around the area.  There has always just been something about percussion that spoke to me, tapped into my core, plucked at the deep strings of my imagination. 

As I said, I've always wanted a drum, always knew I'd get one some day.  Last night at the grocery I ran into Lynn, a lady that plays a djembe at church once in a while, who I've always meant to ask about drums and drumming, and if we could start a regular group at Eliot.  She recognized me, we chatted a few minutes, she told me of a couple of places I should check out for a drum.  Rae and M had something to do this morning, so I went to a Guitar Center nearby. I got there, found The Drum Room, and started poking around the djembes.  A young clerk, Evan, approached me and asked if he could help me, and that started an hour and a half long conversation, complete with a quick overview of the different types of hand drums they had, the different styles of djembes they had, and what might be good for me.  All the while I'm sitting there, drumming, getting the feel for it, making various sounds, feeling the drum between my legs, the skin under my hands.  It was fun, I really felt inspired, excited.  Something inside said that today was the day I was supposed to get a drum.  So I did! I'm exstatic about it.  I can't wait to keep playing it, to experiment by myself, to play it while M dances around to it, and to play it with other people from Eliot and around the area.  It feels good to have it, and it looks good sitting under the tree.