A colloquialism common in Pittsburgheese which means tidying up. And that's what we have been doing for about 3 months now. My wife decided to get into some of her 'keepsake' boxes recently.
Among the newspaper clippings, pictures and souvenirs she found a letter that Mr. Rogers sent to me in 1990. If you're from Pittsburgh it's in your blood to watch the Steelers and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. One of his episodes in the early 70's featured a group of people who introduced an African Talking Drum or Dundun (also Donno among others). They discussed how by changing the inflection of the pitch of the drum and using various rhythms one could have a conversation with others.
Years later in 1989 I spent a month in San Francisco teaching Band and Percussion at an elementary school summer camp. I found a Dundun in the back of a cabinet while taking inventory and decided to use it for their final performance of the camp. I remembered that the word for 'hello' was 'o-dah-bo' (per Mr. Roger's letter). It was played as 2 eighth notes and a quarter with the pitch going from the fundamental up around a minor third and back down to the fundamental. To say 'good bye' the rhythm stayed the same but the pitch was reversed.
For their final concert I wrote a piece called 'African Hello' which of course featured the Dundun and a set of Bongos (they only had 1 Dundun). These 2 instruments started the piece as a dialogue with a scraper, rattle, wood block, clave, and conga. Each of the students had a solo at some point in the piece and it ended with the Dundun and Bongos saying 'Good bye' to each other.
On my return home I wrote a letter to Mr. Rogers thanking him for the episode that inspired that piece. He sent a return letter that was filled with as much graciousness as all of his TV episodes had.
It was a nice reminder of what could and should be today's narrative instead of the animosity and divisiveness that is so prominent.
As a side note I met Mr. Roger's long time drummer and percussionist Bob Rawsthorne on three occasions in the early 2000's. Also a very nice man who has many stories about playing in the Pittsburgh area.
Among the newspaper clippings, pictures and souvenirs she found a letter that Mr. Rogers sent to me in 1990. If you're from Pittsburgh it's in your blood to watch the Steelers and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. One of his episodes in the early 70's featured a group of people who introduced an African Talking Drum or Dundun (also Donno among others). They discussed how by changing the inflection of the pitch of the drum and using various rhythms one could have a conversation with others.
Years later in 1989 I spent a month in San Francisco teaching Band and Percussion at an elementary school summer camp. I found a Dundun in the back of a cabinet while taking inventory and decided to use it for their final performance of the camp. I remembered that the word for 'hello' was 'o-dah-bo' (per Mr. Roger's letter). It was played as 2 eighth notes and a quarter with the pitch going from the fundamental up around a minor third and back down to the fundamental. To say 'good bye' the rhythm stayed the same but the pitch was reversed.
For their final concert I wrote a piece called 'African Hello' which of course featured the Dundun and a set of Bongos (they only had 1 Dundun). These 2 instruments started the piece as a dialogue with a scraper, rattle, wood block, clave, and conga. Each of the students had a solo at some point in the piece and it ended with the Dundun and Bongos saying 'Good bye' to each other.
On my return home I wrote a letter to Mr. Rogers thanking him for the episode that inspired that piece. He sent a return letter that was filled with as much graciousness as all of his TV episodes had.
It was a nice reminder of what could and should be today's narrative instead of the animosity and divisiveness that is so prominent.
As a side note I met Mr. Roger's long time drummer and percussionist Bob Rawsthorne on three occasions in the early 2000's. Also a very nice man who has many stories about playing in the Pittsburgh area.
What a wonderful post. And you have a way with words when you write that almost sounds like him. Mr. Rogers I mean. Anyway, I want to talk more about this on Sunday when we Skype. (On a side note - I think somehow, living in Pittsburgh while you were going to college affected you differently than "Jay" did me 30 miles away. Think about it.)
ReplyDeleteWell that letter sparked some ideas! Yes we could all be kinder:) Your brother stopped by my blog last week...nice to have him visit and comment! :)
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