It’s a bitterly cold Thursday in Texas, folks – tons of people without power, water, and/or internet; classes at local schools are canceled; sheets of ice covering all the roads, which were already covered with a combination of snow and ice from previous storms. I’m blessed to have power, so I thought I would post my first diary in a while on a topic that’s been on my mind recently…
Did you ever have an experience that didn’t really register with you as being influential until years or perhaps even decades later? Please allow me to share one such experience for Black History Month…
WAY back in 1972, I was a high school student in Dallas attending Skyline as a music major when the DISD began bussing minority students to our school. Now I grew up in a white household and while I “saw” black people I can honestly say I certainly did NOT have any black “friends” at that time (no big surprise for that era).
One day the busses pulled up in front of the campus and emptied a large contingent of young black kids who were now assigned to my high school. I had no idea what to expect from these students other than the fact that their skin color was different, so I kept to myself as they dispersed throughout the building. Sure enough, several of these kids were also in the music program and they joined me and other white kids in our classes.
One young man kind of stood out to me, a very hip-looking dude complete with the prerequisite dark sunglasses and a very chill attitude. When our first break between classes began, I went to the piano and started to play a bit, most likely some Emerson, Lake, and Palmer tune (I’m a HUGE prog rock fan!). Most of those pieces required some serious musical chops and technique to pull off and my classical music background had me well prepared for that style of music. So, I’m playing away and here comes Joe Chill, who stood beside the piano smiling. “Do you play?” I asked and he said yes, piano was his primary instrument. “Where did you learn how to play like that” he inquired. “Lots of listening and practice” I replied, pleased that he was enjoying what I was performing (or the chops I was showing off!) “What’s your name, man?” I asked. He replied “Phillip Parker”, so I said “You wanna play some, Phillip?”
Phillip sat down and proceeded to play a Stevie Wonder song (“My Cherie Amour”, as I recall) then improvised some blues for me. After a few moments I reciprocated and said, “So where did YOU learn to play like that?”“Oh, I just listen and figure out what they’re doing on the record”. While I had previously done the same ear-training work “picking out songs” (as I called it) I had never tried it with a funk or soul style of music.
For the remainder of that semester every time there was a break between classes Phillip and I would sit down at the piano and trade “licks”– I taught him some of the technical things I knew how to play, and he showed me some sweet blues tunes that really expanded my musical repertoire. After several weeks I thought “Wow, I guess I do actually have a pretty cool black friend!”
Now in this era we didn’t exactly hang out together on weekends or socialize in any other context, but I loved what my new friend was teaching me, and he seemed very grateful that someone else enjoyed his playing. (Did I mention Phillip also had the best damn weed I had ever smoked in my life? Nope, didn’t think so…)
After a year Mr. Parker transferred to a different school and I while never saw Phillip again, that guy made a lasting impression on me! Today I realize that we both shared something that would last a lot longer than our jam sessions or trading “licks”, and that was the fact that music brought us together in a way that was both completely unexpected and totally predictable! Phillip gave me Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind, and Fire, and the blues while I gave him ELP, Yes, and Genesis. A priceless and beneficial experience for us both overall!
So, the next time you find yourself in one of those awkward moments where you have no idea how to begin a conversation with someone you don’t know, remember my motto for BHM - MUSIC WINS!
I have NEVER received an answer of “none” to the question “So, what kind of music do you like?” Try it sometime, friends, I think you’ll find it very effective - it sure worked for me!
“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went”– Will Rogers
