oh i am happy today! it took a very long time to find an open, comfortable, accessible, free venue in town where i could get my two drumming buddies, andrew and peterson, in the same room together, so we could all play — and ALSO be in a spot where people might just hear us and walk in and join! OH, and a place that was also FULLY stocked with tons of craft supplies for the kids hanging out.
sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? it’s the community cultural exchange on south street, and we love it. totally open to us coming in and making a ton of noise? of course they were. so we packed up two kids, two sogo, two sagmo, two buk, four janggu, a bunch of handouts and coloring pages, and headed off to meet andrew and peterson, and see who else showed up!
mercedes and her kids harley and holden were already waiting for us. these were the first children to whom any of us had had to explain the mechanics of the janggu, so we were initially a little stuck, but we figured it out. obviously, we figured it out — look at this!
that’s a six year-old who had never heard of or seen a janggu an hour before, playing hwimori!
harley had such an affinity for the janggu that we gave her one to borrow and take home. she was going to tell her music teacher at school about her new adventure.
so that she could practice at home, peterson made her this:
a little later, my friend regina and her son david came by to try out some drumming. david is very young, but to see him drumming with his mom, even if they were not perfectly on beat, was pretty neat. playing poongmul with someone you care about really does give a new level to your relationship — i believe that sincerely.
we were getting some attention from passersby on the street, and some ladies even came in to watch for awhile. claudia and béla demonstrated their sangmo and sogo.
and there was art.
a few friends of andrew’s showed up and there was a big jam. we used every drum in the place, and by the end of the night, could have used one more two more!
when you plan a first-time, open-to-the-public event like this, i think you’ve got a win just in getting there. we did even better than that. if it wasn’t for the fact that i think peterson got really wet getting home, i’d call it perfect — with room for growth! we are doing it again in february and hope to see more people!
