Many memories I have involve music. Music makes me feel connected to something bigger than myself. It’s been something I’ve been drawn to create, and an avenue for me to meet a variety of cool people from all walks of life.
Many years ago, I worked as a security guard. I remember spending my unpaid lunch breaks out on the rooftop patio at Jackson Square Mall in Hamilton, Ontario, in Canada. I would mechanically practice, using a drum pad and two sticks, while daydreaming about being anywhere besides work.
One day while I was drumming, two men approached and started watching what I was doing. The men were a bit older than me, had shopping bags from the mall and seemed genuinely curious about what I was doing. I could feel their presence, watching me, so I stopped, looked up and smiled at them.
The larger of the two men, held out his hands and asked if he could try. I handed him the sticks and invited him to sit. He played the same drum notation, only this time it swayed. The notes hit slightly off time and he varied the velocity of the hits; it sounded almost jazzy and was purposefully conveying emotion.
It sounded totally different to how I had been playing, and we all started nodding and smiling at each other. The other guy and I grabbed random items nearby to add percussive sounds to this spontaneous meditative drum circle at the mall. I found some little rocks and hit them on the cement to add top line percussion.
I hadn’t thought about this memory for many years, but while writing all the vibes I had trouble getting everything to gel in a way that sounded right. When I turned the Swing setting way up, suddenly I could feel ‘all the vibes’. It reminded me of that drumming lesson, and how we are communicating even when we aren’t using words.
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