A Growing Experience
Being part of The Reclaimers is a growing experience. At first, all I had was a desire to make a guitar. I had no musical experience but I could use tools to make things. I thought I could make an instrument but I didn’t know what to do with it.
Charles surprised me with his idea of forming a Street Orchestra. He had a lot of goals so I decided to hang in there and see what he had in mind for us. A lot of our practice involves very basic things, like timing and rhythm. We sat around in a circle beating small hoop drums to a steady count of 1, 2, 3, 4. When we got bored with that he would change the pattern. It’s not easy to keep in time and I often mucked it up.
It soon became clear to me that I was not very good at this. Charles said not to think about it – just let it happen. I don’t like making mistakes and many times I feel stressed. The support I get from everyone keeps me going. Playing music is good for my soul.
Recently, while riding home from practice, I realised I had enjoyed the day, music was in my head and i was feeling happy.
Thanks very much for being one of the first posters on our new Blog. More than that thgouh, thank you very much for being such a committed member of the group. The sounds you get out of that stick cello are an inspiration to me.