Drum Cafe

I've neglected the blog lately because I had to start back to work. The beginning of school is always hectic, but ready or not, kids will come on the 25th.
Today our district held its annual convocation--a pep rally of sorts for all district employees. This is the fourth one that I've attended, and it was by far the best. I don't really think anything can top what we did today. I remember very little about the past 3 convocation key note speakers, but I will never forget today's key note program.
We entered the gym to find a drum for each employee in attendance. While I should know how many people the district employs, I don't, but it's around 2,000, give or take a hundred or so. Instead of listening to a speaker, a drum team from Drum Cafe interacted with us for about an hour. We learned simple rhythms and that if you breath or walk, then you do have rhythm. The team leader had all two thousand of us in the palm of his hand. He reminded us that we all come from a mother, whose heartbeat was the first rhythm we heard; he went on to talk about relationships and human connection from there. At times, opposing sides of the gym were pounding out opposing rhythms. Sometimes the music was chest vibrating; at others it was barely audible. But always, we were united in producing music. Something we all need to remember. We're always tapping out a beat. Does it harmonize with sounds those around us are producing? Are we trying to "drown out" the music of others?
Did I hit every beat correctly? Absolutely not, but that's OK. I had a great time and was reminded that I do, in fact, have rhythm.

Drum Cafe is an international organization. Some of the drummers performed during the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. I remember seeing the African drummers and was perplexed by their attendance since the other performers were Chinese. Now I know . . .