Stone Dragon

This week I spent most of my time at a camp run by Stone Dragon, an organization committed to educating and inspiring youth. One branch of the organization runs camps for school classes, somewhat like our Outdoor School program in Portland. These camps aren't always based in science education, though. In fact, the camp I went on this week was titled "Camp Candy" after the song "Candyman" by some pop star that I can't remember (pathetic? Maybe.). It was supposed to be themed as a 1940s-1950s camp...why, I have no idea. Apart from our group names, which were borrowed from bombers and anti-aircraft artillery, there wasn't much evidence of the theme at all.

The real objective of the camp was to take the group of students, who came from an incredibly privileged background, and give them an opportunity to step outside of their everyday mediocrity and discover something about themselves. The rift between the rich and the poor in Cape Town is so wide that these students were quite thoroughly unaware of the opportunities they scorned on a daily basis. Not that we changed that over a three-day camp, but perhaps we at least let them appreciate what they posses. The Foo Fighters song "Best of You" was the real theme of the camp, and we spent three days trying to get each student to recognize the bonds and pressures that hold them back and keep them from presenting the best of themselves. Very deep for 16 year-olds!

The campsite was absolutely gorgeous, it was the Rocklands Centre witch is just a bit farther than Simon's Town. It was a beautiful setting and also very well-suited to the activities we had planned, or maybe our activities were planned well for the site. I don't know which! Check out the view from my cabin:

If not for the powerlines you could have taken postcard photos from this site!

I had a funny experience my first night there, which was technically volunteer training but actually ended up being chill time. We were moving in our equipment and getting set up, but someone forgot to close the door to one of the buildings and a baboon came in! Luckily we weren't in the building at the time because the baboons here are quite dangerous and not afraid of humans. In fact, they are quite the pest because they have opposable thumbs and are clever about opening doors and things. We had to keep everything not only closed but also locked to keep them out! This one proceeded to unzip my backpack and eat my dinner (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches) and then smear peanut butter all over everything while pulling all the other objects out of my bag. It was quite thorough... but luckily baboons have no use for wallets or cameras, so the only casualties were my dinner and a few stains on my other things.

Once the students arrived in the morning I had the privilege of working with the smallest (and most classically "popular") group of girls. They were actually lovely people, once you got them to start acting like people, but the rest of the time it was all about their clothes and cellphones (which were forbidden but used sporadically anyway). In fact, my girls may have changed their outfits more than 6 or 7 times each day. Does that seem ridiculous to anyone but me? But they would, in the same breath, say something like "I don't need to wear makeup at camp." It's a funny form of blindness, but one that I hope some of my girls were able to see through by the end of the three days.

The rules at this camp were also ridiculously loose. Or, rather, the rules were normal but the enforcement was nonexistent. I seemed like a dictator, I'm afraid, because I was always trying to enforce rules that other leaders were ignoring. In the end nothing bad happened, although we did apprehend a few students trying to sneak out for a smoke, so overall I think it was a success.
How else was it different to a camp you might attend in the States? Well, for one thing, nobody was worried about lawsuits, etc. to the same degree that you have to back home. The level of physical contact between leaders and students surprised me... not that it was inappropriate or harassment or anything, it's just something you don't do at home! And the level of concern over injury was very low. Many of the games that we played had the potential for serious injury... and, in fact, there was a broken collarbone, a sprained ankle, and a few other minor bumps... but it was almost expected. The "no-holds-barred" attitude made for an interesting experience!

There were also activities that seemed brutal compared to what we enforce on our campers at home. As a team-building exercise each cabin group was instructed to carry a 2-meter telegraph pole (which is very heavy!) on a 7 km hike straight uphill and back. Normally this would be a 14 km hike, but there wasn't a convenient route off the main highway to walk the kids on. As a catch, the groups were never allowed to set down the pole. So the six of my girls (whining as loud as any of the larger groups) fought each other and bickered about the pole and about each other and suffered their way through the hike. Now, they pretty much had a horrible time and I think that is mainly due to their attitude, but I just didn't have the energy to spend smoothing over every conflict when they had already taxed me to the breaking point. So I hope that in the long run they will take a lesson away from the activity. I know some of the other groups had a much better time of it, but they also had more people. The sadistic side of me wishes they'd had to carry it for the other seven kms. I think they would have learned more that way because they would have actually reached the exhaustion point instead of just the ornery stage :).

Another surprising moment occurred the evening before the "Leviathan Long March" as it was called. My girls had been on activities rotation with a particularly naughty group of boys, who had splattered paint all over some very beautiful and irreplaceable rocks at the campsite while "painting" their telegraph pole. Since the campsite was not ours to ruin, many of the leaders spent hours scrubbing the rocks with turpentine to remove the paint. My girls, although not the primary instigators of this mischief, were punished for their complicity by washing dishes. Now, there weren't many dishes to start with, it was a job that should have taken about ten minutes if they had simply gotten down to business. Unfortunately, though, they felt the need to whine and complain about how it hadn't been their fault, etc. and then react as if very disgusted by the dishes. Now, some of the dishes weren't exactly pretty, but not really bad at all. And in the course of enforcing this punishment on them I discovered that not a single one of them had ever washed dishes before. Can you believe it? Never! And a pot that had been used to cook oatmeal was the "most disgusting thing" they had ever seen. I almost couldn't contain my amusement when they bickered about who had to touch it. Luckily, one girl in the group was a bit more practical than the rest and finally just did the job.

But don't get me wrong, I really liked a lot of my girls. They were a bit too cool for their surroundings, but many of them were quite lovely once you broke through their popular exteriors. And I wish that I had been able to do more to help them enjoy their camp experience, but I have been a camp leader enough to understand that some groups just aren't open to change, and especially aren't open to it when surrounded by their peers. So I am hoping that each of them at least learned something and I'm not stressing too much.

Since then? Well, I've been sleeping! You may or may not have ever done something like this before, but leading camps really takes it out of you. Even if it weren't for the long hours (6am-1am or so) the energy expended to keep everything running smoothly is enough to make sure you sleep well at night! And luckily I actually get a day off this weekend to rest :).

Busy Week!

Well.... There is nothing for it but to divide this post into segments as well... good luck!

Teaching Marimba at Azaad Youth Center

Last week on Wednesday I got called in to teach the Azaad classes for amaAmbush. If I haven't already explained Azaad, it's a project that takes in post-high school youth from disadvantaged areas and teaches them practical skills like cooking, sewing, etc. amaAmbush runs one of the many classes that are taught to these students, normally covering marimba building, drumming, dancing, and marimba playing. The students would normally have been at a building workshop that day, but there was a big event on Thursday and the instructor was busy with the preparations, so I taught his classes instead. Of course, my limited experience in building marimbas was insufficient for this purpose, so my workshop ended up covering only marimba playing. I was a bit nervous coming into the lessons because each one was so long. The day is divided into a morning and an afternoon session, each of which had 2:30 hrs of instruction with a short break in the middle. Now, that is a lot of marimba for beginners! And these students really were beginners :).

Luckily, my morning class was the same group of students that I had met and taught a bit the Friday previous, so they were excited to see me and things got off to a good start. It was mostly just difficult because the students progressed at such different rates. Some of them learned quite quickly and were ready for more, while others had a great deal of difficulty with the basic parts. So, we bumbled through a couple of tunes and called it a morning. While we didn't perform anything masterful, they had a good time and learned some of the fundamentals. It was a bit of new ground for me as well, because I ventured into teaching chords and improvisation--something I haven't done before! Luckily it went quite well and the students really liked it.

The afternoon group was an entirely new set of students for me, and two of them had little or no English comprehension... which was an adventure, of course! Luck was on my side again, though, because marimba is not a particularly language-dependent skill. This second group was particularly talented and we got through more than the morning class, even with the language barrier. In fact, I was having such a good time that the ending siren took me completely by surprise. But some groups are just like that--and you never know in advance!

All-in-all it was an interesting day because it was a good opportunity to compare the South African "average student" to the folks I have taught in the States. When you're starting from absolute zero the differences are easy to identify. For example, the students here are naturally gifted rhymically, while they have great difficulty with remembering melodies. This was a surprise to me at first, because it is exactly the opposite in the states! I taught first an amaAmbush tune and followed it with Ncuzu (sp?) from Portland to see how they would do with each one, and it was certainly an experience. An interesting, if challenging, day!

South African Principals' Association Conference

amaAmbush was exhibiting at the SAPA conference at the Cape Town International Convention Center last Thursday, so I had two full days of marimba. The organization had a general booth in the exhibition area and were also able to perform for the principals at the start of the talks and speeches.

This wasn't just any performance, though, it was a massive one. amaAmbush coordinated with many of their teaching schools to bring both the students and instruments to the conference... resulting in a marimba band of around 35-40 marimbas, at least 10 drums, and altogether maybe 60 or so players (most of whom were high school students... so you can imagine the mayhem!). The sound was quite overwhelming, and it was lucky that amaAmbush teaches in such a standardized fashion or the group never would have been able to coordinate the changes and beginnings and endings of each song. At the same time, there were so many people on stage that I'm not sure you'd even notice if a few people didn't move with the rest of the group. I was able to perform with the group, and I will eventually have some photos that I can put up... but not yet, sorry! This time I wasn't the photographer.

The conference itself was an experience because it was an odd mixture of genres. The principals were interesting to talk with because some of them were very formal and professional, and others were less so (although they dressed the part). The exhibition area was a funny combination of "african" and "professional" with amaAmbush on one hand, and textbook/computer software companies on the other. Anyhow, it was good people watching.

Drumming

I have been hearing about a drum circle in Observatory since the day I moved in, and I finally figured out where takes place. So last Thursday night I showed up at this laid-back club in Obs and joined in. As a bit of background, I have really never been taught to drum. This might seem a bit odd to those of you who know of my Percussion Ensemble days in Grinnell, but I was always channeled into the mallet parts and didn't get much experience with hand-drumming. So I showed up at the drum circle and was handed a drum... and with the other fifteen people who showed up, beat the heck out of the thing for two hours. We were shown a few basic hits (tones? sounds?) and left to learn by repeat-after-me. This is just my style! I am pretty decent with rhythm and I like to think of myself as decently coordinated, so I had a great time. It was a bit challenging for me to use my left hand in such an active manner, since most of the music I have played is very right hand dominant (or I can make it lead with the right even if it isn't supposed to be that way :) ).

I had a great time! I really hope I can learn more drumming while I'm here, but I'm still trying to find and economical way to do that. I don't know if I can really learn enough at these drum circles... but I'll go for the fun of it anyway!

Music Lesson at Oscar Mpheta Senior Secondary School

Friday morning, Charne (one of my SAEP colleagues) popped her head into the office I was working in to ask, "what are you doing this afternoon?" Well, turns out I was headed to Oscar Mpheta to fill in for a couple of music volunteers who had just phoned Charne to cancel late the previous night. The learners in the townships don't generally have music and arts as part of their school curriculum, so one branch of SAEP is focused on coordinating volunteers to teach these subjects after school. Unfortunately, there wasn't much in the way of a lesson plan left for me, so I was on my own!

Luckily (again... seems last week was a luck week) I had exactly one music lesson that I could whip out of my back pocket for the afternoon's class. It's a fun mixture of clapped rhythm and a song from Ghana that teaches some basic concepts like rhythm and harmony. The group of students was wonderful, as well. They were so willing to learn and also very excited about the chance to sing. This sort of lesson can really fall through the floor if your students aren't singing enthusiasts, but their energy really added to the fun of the lesson and made it successful. I might be going back this week... depends on the schedule as usual.

The Beach

Now, normally I wouldn't even bother posting about my picnic at the beach on Friday, but I have some really nice photos of it. Since there aren't any other photos so far in this post, I figured I would throw in a few just for good measure :).

Soweto Gospel Choir

On Saturday I had tickets to go see the Soweto Gospel Choir at the Baxter Theater. And it was maybe the best concert I have seen so far in South Africa! The choir was incredible... full of energy and very tight musically. But it was more than that as well, because there was so much motion and dancing involved in the music that it was really amazing to watch as well as listen to. Their costumes were cut in the style of traditional African dress and the riotous color on each one was stunning. Most of all, the confidence and joy with which the choir sang was touching and totally worth the price of the ticket.


It was interesting to look around at the other audience members as well. More than half of the crowd was white--and I had expected a much stronger black presence because the choir is a grassroots black-music organization. But perhaps the price of the ticket was a discouragement for many who otherwise might have attended. There was a whole row of black adolescent boys sitting in front of me, and I could tell that their tickets had been paid by someone else because they were so unenthused about the concert. The one directly in front of me was wearing a rather tall hat, so I asked him to please remove it once the concert had started. He did take it off reluctantly, but later he solved his problem by wearing the hat and slouching so low in his chair that the hat itself barely reached the top of the backrest. I was sad to see that he and his buddies weren't appreciating the music, but I think it is good that they were able to attend anyway. Maybe something like that will eventually crack through their "tough" exteriors.


Bafana Bafana vs. Zambia

On Sunday I had another "cultural experience" when I went to the South African national team's game vs. Zambia in the Newlands stadium. The place was insane.... almost sold out and the whole crowd was more excited about the game than even the most enthusiastic crowds in the states! Of course, the crowd was a bit rougher as well. In fact, we had to go through about three security checks on the way in, far more rigorous than the standard "open your bags" check in the states. We even got patted down at one of the check points!

The amazing thing was the noise level. The stadium was bigger than PGE Park in Portland, for those of you who know it, and for those of you who don't, just trust me that it was big! And almost all the seats were filled, including people sitting on the stairs in the aisle ways. There were so many of those obnoxious plastic trumpets that you couldn't really tell when they were all blasting because there was such a loud undercurrent of their belching tones. And that's just the normal noise level... when something actually happened on the field things got ridiculous!


The game itself was a disappointment because Bafana Bafana did not play well at all, and ended up losing to Zambia 3 to 1. But it was their fault--they had a terrible defensive line and Zambia capitalized on every offensive chance they got. The referees were a bit shoddy as well, they didn't keep good control of the game. There was only one almost-fight, but it was a rough match! Lots of diving and asking the referee for favors. The game in general was an excellent example of the "problem with African sports" which is an excess of talent and lack of teamwork. But regardless of their play, it was amazing to see the loyalty that the team commanded from their fans.

This Week

Has been somewhat more calm than the past few! I have settled into a routine that is more regular, if a bit less exciting, than the craziness of the past several weeks. I am spending mornings in the SAEP office working with the gap-year interns on English and Chemistry, and going to amaAmbush in the afternoons. This week I've just been transcribing marimba songs for them, but hopefully I will have a bit more variation in the future. I've been enjoying the transcription process though--it's been a challenge to make out the parts from CD recordings, but the more transcribing that I do the better I get at figuring out intervals and rhythms. For the intervals I can't help but say a silent "thank you" to my theory teachers at the summer music camp that I used to attend :). All those tricks I learned are really helpful now!

Next Week

Should be back to my normal craziness!

Tomorrow I am attending a rehearsal with a community marimba group that is inspired by.... if you can believe it.... the marimba movement in the US! I am pretty excited to see how our music has translated itself to Cape Town, so hopefully that should really be fun.

Sunday morning I take off for a four-day-long camping trip with a group of high school students. It's a very Outdoor-School like organization that tries to motivate students and get them excited about sciency and environmental subjects. I'm excited to go even if it turns my schedule upside down next week!

Thanks to anyone who made it this far down the post! I hope that the beginning of fall is treating you all well back in the states!

Weekend Events

Well hello again! I know that I left off with a massive post about marimba music, so I thought I would update yet again with some more vacation-like material!

Saturday night I went to see the University of Cape Town Big Band in concert in their University hall. It was an interesting concert because the band played quite well as an ensemble (you'd think they would, being the premier jazz band in the premier university in South Africa) and the vocalists were absolutely amazing... but the soloists from the band itself were pretty lame! Now, it's been at least four years since I played in a jazz band and I don't think I could ever solo to save my life, but I can recognize a good solo when I hear one. And these just weren't up to par. Too many notes, and I could tell that they were too nervous... they didn't take any time to enjoy the spaces in the solo along with the licks. But it was a good concert overall, and I'm glad that I attended. I wasn't such a fan of the African pieces that the conductor himself composed, though. Sad, because I wanted to like them more than I did. It's been such a long time since I played any classical music! I miss the precision of it :).

Sunday I attended another event at the Baxter Theater, a dance festival for amateur groups. It was really interesting! I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but there was hardly any "african" dance. There was an interesting mixture of posh dancing schools and community (township) dance projects, though. I don't know if any of you who read this knew me back at Lincoln High, but our dance team couldn't hold a candle to these folks (we had a kick-ass dance team, too)! Many memorable performances. My favorite had only two dancers, one young woman in a flowing red dress and a young guy playing the guitar (actually performing the music). There was such a dialog between the music and the dance because the music was actually a part of the dance... very cool!

Anyhow... I think I am finished relating my weekend adventures for now! In the future, you ask? Well... there is an interesting concert by the Soweto Gospel Choir that I would looooooove to attend, and I might be volunteering on an outdoor school-like excursion for a weekend as well. Keep checking back if you're interested!

Maaaaaaarimba

Hello again!

This week has been a busy one! Because I suspect that this is going to be a massively long post, I will attempt to spare you by dividing my writing into sections so that you might read about only the subjects that interest you. And of course, if you would rather skip straight to the photos and bypass my ramblings, you can find them (as usual) at www.grinnellgallery.com, under the name "parkersa." So here goes!


Marimba

This has been a busy marimba week for me! After successfully making contact with amaAmbush last Friday I was scheduled to spend Wednesday through Friday in a sort of 'jobshadow' of the company's operations manager, Tracy (notice that there is no 'e' in 'Tracy' :) because, of course, 'e' stands for 'eeew'). This turned out to be a great deal of fun, and incredibly informative as well. I was joined by a Grade 11 student named Kelly who actually was completing a jobshadow assignment on Tracy. Kelly and I accompanied Tracy to lessons at a variety of schools, played marimbas with in the amaAmbush band room, and did some office work as well. I have tried to separate my impressions into categories, but it's not the easiest thing, so please forgive me if there is overlap!

amaAmbush Instruments

The instruments that amaAmbush builds and plays on are a variation on the standard marimba that we play in Portland (see photo below). The keys aren't tuned quite as precisely as ours (at least, they aren't now... perhaps they started off more in tune and have lost pitch!) and aren't as uniform. The average key is also less wide but thicker than the ones we are accustomed to, so it's a bit harder to hit the key full in the center. The more I play on them though, the more accustomed I get to the differences in keyboard structure.

Something I haven't gotten used to yet is the range of the instruments. The bass instrument is close to the same as ours in terms of range, but there is no baritone instrument. Instead, there is a tenor with similar range, an alto instrument that is like the top of a tenor smooshed together with the bottom of a soprano, and a soprano instrument that only goes down to middle C but extends up to the E above our usual high C. You might imagine that this plays havoc with our Zim-style parts! Things don't generally fit where they are supposed to, so I've had to do a bit of improvising.


As you can see from the picture above, there is also a different resonator system on the amaAmbush marimba than our PVC-pipe system. The structural parts of the marimbas are built at the Azaad Youth Center in a workshop that they use out back, and the box-type resonators have individual box-shaped compartments for each key to resonate in. This part is machine/computer cut for precision, while the sides of the boxes are cut and assembled and the legs/etc. built and attached at Azaad. The instruments come apart quite differently from ours! The keyboard lifts right off, and then the legs can be detached as well. That leaves the boxes to pack quite easily against each other and the keyboards can be packed separately. The main idea, I think, is to make the instruments as indestructible as possible.

The mallets are also much heavier than the yellow polymer mallets that we use in Portland, with a thicker shaft and larger mallet head. The heads are made of black rubber, and remind me a great deal of the mallets we used to use at Sellwood when I was just starting out on the marimba. I think that the extra mass is necessary to resonate the thicker keys of their instruments, but I find it much more difficult to play quick intricate parts with them. The mallets also break fairly often--whether that is because the wood is less strong or because the style of playing is more violent I couldn't say.

Playing Style

As may be expected, the music played here in Cape Town differs in both structure and content from the Zimbabwean style that we play in the states. The instruments play largely the same roles, but in different fashions. The bass is the heartbeat of the band and keeps everyone together. The tenor is the "meat and potatoes" instrument, often playing chords in drag triplet rhythms to fill in the chordal base of the song. Small variations occur here, but the tenor is there mostly as utility player and not as a curiosity or as the star. It's rare (but not completely unheard-of) for the tenors here to play a rhythmically challenging part such as we find all over in our Zim-based music. The alto is the melody instrument in the standard three-piece performing band, and the soprano will often double the melody in four-piece school ensembles. The result of this structure is a sense of power that is conveyed through the volume and intensity of the parts, a feeling that mimics the sense of standing in front of the speakers at a rock concert. Different, but also very cool.

In teaching, the style is quite different because it is focused around chord patterns. There are letter names at the top of each key and the teachers communicate through chords to the students. It's an interesting concept because we spend so much time emphasizing the absence of standard music education in our marimba playing. But it is effective, if slightly harder to grasp at the outset.

When performing, there are often four or five players but only three play on the marimbas. In concerts that I have seen it is common for a fourth player to be on drum and the fifth on shaker or tambourine. They play very actively, with continuous movement and plenty of energy. I laugh sometimes to think about how some of my marimba compatriots back in Portland would react to it! It takes more confidence to play this way and it certainly livens up the performances!

The Music

The pieces are generally quite short here in Cape Town compared with our marathon performances of pieces like Nehmamusasa! On average a piece will last between 1:30-2:30 minutes, compared to at least 5 and sometimes 10 or 15 back home! But I think it's a difference in concept and not a statement on endurance or anything like that. The structure of a marimba piece here is very straightforward, and the melody player (which they don't call the 'lead') has control of the group but not the extended solos that we get. In general, a piece starts with the chords or the bass and the melody joins after a few cycles. The melody is stated once or twice (there are usually only a few melody lines) and the singing begins, sometimes accompanied by a change in rhythm from the players. This rhythmic alteration is termed the 'change' and it can come as an independent section as well. There will often be a solo section for the professional groups, then the melody is restated and the piece ends. Not the extended leads that we are used to!

The chordal structures of the songs are also quite different. In the Zimbabwean-style we play mostly among the standard C, F, G and sometimes D chords, but here they utilize the A and D much more. I thought that different chords would be the result of an F sharp key, but really I haven't used that key at all and the chord structures are still different. The phrase structure is also extended so that some of the minor and diminished chords fit better into the music. In general, the cycles are much longer than ours. They're not quite on par with Siyakudumisa or Nhemamusasa, but definitely longer than Zendikiawa or Skokiana.

All signals are vocal, usually indicated by the band leader who shouts "melody!" "change!" "play!" or "end!" in the appropriate enthusiastic style, of course! I can think of many marimba folks back home who would love for all our signals to be vocal! It certainly simplifies the memorization side of things!

I have heard the songs here referred to as the 'Xhosa-style,' but I'm not entirely sure what that means because I haven't heard any other Xhosa music. The groups here aren't shy about adopting popular music either! I have heard make-shift arrangements of several tunes that I thought to hear only on the radio such as "Take 5" and "Clocks." Sometimes the chords don't quite work out, but the arrangements are amazingly good for the fact that some of the accidentals are missing!

The music is, in general, very free. I sometimes feel that the music we play on our marimbas in Portland is losing its essence because we constrain it with so many signals and rules and confine our thinking to one part and then specific variations. One of my hopes in traveling this year is to free up my sense of the music and gain confidence in improvisation. I was just starting to get comfortable with that before I left and I am hoping to develop that aspect of my playing. In some ways, it's very liberating to teach this music to players here in Cape Town, because they don't know the songs at all. So there are no expectations for certain signals/variations/etc. an no comparisons to other players' leads.

My 'Jobshadow'

The first day of my jobshadow was spent largely playing marimba with Kelly and Tracy and observing Tracy's lessons at two all-girls private schools. It was really great to play and jam with Kelly and Tracy--they were quick to pick up parts and willing to teach me some of their pieces. I got to record some parts to a few songs and I am hoping to transcribe them when I get the chance. The lessons we attended were also quite interesting. amaAmbush auditions the students for places in the school bands based on two criteria: energy and ability. This was apparent in the lessons as every one of the students was both capable and enthusiastic. What a contrast from the township schools, though! I am glad to see the other side of education in Cape Town, and it makes me even more glad that I am able to help out even a little bit in the townships by tutoring. The lessons were interesting because Tracy 'conducted' by drumming, something that I have never tried but worked well. It kept the pieces moving at an appropriate tempo while imbuing the music with energy. It's a bit more subtle than the Hosho that we play, because the sound of the drum lies 'underneath' the music instead of layering 'on top' like the higher rapping of the hosho gourds.

On my second day I spent some time transcribing amaAmbush songs--a process which is never quick for me, but is also very revealing of the differences between our musical styles. There's nothing like a written rhythm to exemplify the different meter and emphasis in the Xhosa music. I hope to do more of this when I have time, because it's both useful to amaAmbush as well as to me. I also attended a lesson that Ross taught at a high school in the Heideveld area (a township that is slightly better off than most). This was the same school that I attended a performance at the first day that I got involved with amaAmbush, and it was a fun lesson. I got to listen a bit as well as teach a bit, but it was difficult because there was a language barrier (Afrikaans was their best language and I can't speak a word of it) so I couldn't tell if they understood me or not. I believe that there are some photos of this lesson but I don't have them at the moment, so you'll have to check my grinnell gallery account for those a bit later.

In general when I have taught here, both to students and to more accomplished players, our Zimbabwean parts seem quite difficult to grasp. I think it's a difference in rhythm. We're used to short parts with intricate syncopations, while the standard here is simple triplet-syncopation with longer chordal patterns to remember.

My third day was spent as a participant/teacher of a drumming/dancing/marimba workshop at the Azaad Youth Center. The Azaad center is a post-high school institution that attempts to teach matriculated students from disadvantaged areas practical skills that they can use to find a good job. One side of that is marimba, so I got to sit in (and participate in) this workshop for Azaad youth.
We started off with some African Dancing taught by Zama (see above), a teacher affiliated with amaAmbush. I think that drumming was to be the subject of the day, but the teaching drums didn't arrive, so we were left to dance and play marimbas. I did participate in the dancing (surprise anyone?) but I don't think I was very good! It was fun, anyway. I am learning to be less shy about making a fool of myself--for better or for worse :).

Sorry about the blurry photo... there were lighting issues in the room. I am the gal in the green shirt in the back, and Zama is the one demonstrating the moves.

Kelly and I also got a chance to teach some marimba to the students... their very first time playing a marimba! I don't have any photos of me teaching, but I will try to remedy that in the future!

Life in Cape Town

Edit: This is the second section of this post, as promised!

OK, well, if you've made it this far into my post you definitely deserve a medal! Looking back over what I've written (not particularly elegantly this time) I realize that it's turned into a summary of my marimba research thus far. Now, if you happen to be looking for the world's leading expert on the differences between marimba culture in Portland, Oregon and Cape Town, then you're probably hanging on each and every word of my drawn-out exposition. If not, I apologize for the excessive scrolling that was necessary to reach this portion of today's post!

If you didn't read the earlier bits about marimba, the salient points are the following: I spent three days at amaAmbush Marimbas playing, teaching, and observing marimbas. It was really great, and I hope that there will be more to come!

Meanwhile, in Cape Town, I have been living life as usual. With a few exceptions. Today was the first day of Spring, although you'd never know it from looking at the sky! Cape Town weather is always a mixed-bag, but today was particularly gloomy and dark. Luckily, we had a clear night on Wednesday (even though it was, technically, still winter) when the moon was full for climbing Lion's Head (see pics below). Lion's Head is the second or third largest mountain/hill in the middle of Cape Town and is reputed to be one of the best hikes around. The hike isn't too long because there is a road that climbs half-way up the gentler part of the slope before you start the walk.
According to the park rangers that we met on the trail, you aren't actually supposed to climb up Lion's Head after sunset, but nobody in our group was aware of that fact before we were half-way up the trail. At that point we thought that the ranger would make us descend without reaching the top, but some smooth talking (I never did figure out exactly what JP said) got us permission to finish our climb if we promised to be careful and also hurry back. I'm still not sure how we were supposed to do both of those things at once!

But the hike was beautiful in the dark with the city lights stretched out around us, interspersed with the menacing dark shapes of Table Mountain, Devil's Peak, and the Bay. You could see so far, it was both amazing and gorgeous. The pictures certainly don't do justice to the view, so I will have to recommend a personal trip for beholding the true splendor of the city lights on a clear night. And the full moon as well--it was so bright! Every time we circled to the 'dark side' of the mountain you could hardly see the trail, but it was bright and clear on the moonlit side!

Luckily, nobody got hurt even though there were a few tricky spots and a few accidental slithers coming down, nobody was mugged (this is a ridiculously serious problem here... last week a woman climbing Table Mountian was mugged and everything she had with her was stolen... including her clothes! She had to walk down the mountain in nothing but her bra. Now that is serious mugging!), and nobody was arrested for illegally entering a national park after hours. All-in-all, a good night!

Other Musical Endeavors

In the absence of good marimba activity I have arranged a number of other activities in the past month. One of them I have mentioned before: the musical production put on by students from disadvantaged high schools. I attended another rehearsal session this morning, and it was lovely. The students are feeling more comfortable with me around, and I am getting to know a few names and faces so I can offer more intelligent conversation than the standard variations on 'Hi, where are you from?' So I spent the morning doing vocal and physical exercises of various sorts and learning to enunciate my vowels clearly, hold a pitch, and various other things that I have undoubtedly learned before but never remember well :).

The most interesting part of the session was the students character brainstorm. They were provided with a storyline starter at the end of last week's session and asked to brainstorm a charachter to fit into the story. The characters that the students came up with were amazingly detailed and intimately related to the social problems inherant in township life. I won't repeat any of them here because I haven't gotten their permission, but the range of characters spanned religion, drugs, prostitution, familial abuse, pregnancy, and almost any other vice you can imagine. Very sad to think that these students may know people just like the characters they created, but it is also uplifting to think about these students and their motivation for changing their own status and way of life.

Unfortunately, I don't have permission yet to put up any photos from this rehearsal, but I will check into it and perhaps I can post some in the future.


Conclusions

Well, there's plenty more to say but I'm afraid that there's nobody left to read it! And I am so tired of typing... I'm currently writing on a German keyboard (belonging to my housemate) where many of the keys are actually in unusual places. So for now, that's all you get!

I will try for brevity (and perhaps more levity) in the future!