Adventures in African Drumming

I am currently marking off things from a long-standing list of "Things I Want To Do."  The most recent undertaking was bringing my son to an African Drumming Class.  Greeted at the door by a beautiful maternal African woman, who called me "mommy," I knew we were in for a treat.  We spent a half hour playing different rhythms on the Djembe, accompianing our instructor as he added extra rhythms on top of our own.  We sang, danced, and embraced the music.  I looked over to my son at one point, and he had closed his eyes, so that he could feel the music.  His body swayed from side to side, as his little hands made contact with the drum head.  

It was at this moment I realized that the need to express ourselves through music is something that is innate to all of us.  Other cultures sing and dance all the time to celebrate, to teach, to tell stories.  When did we as modern-day Westerners become so disjointed from our natural inclinations to sing and dance?  So many adults will say, "Oh, I can't sing," or "I don't play an instrument."  A child would never say those things.  They sing and dance without inhibition.  Maybe it is time for all of us to add music back onto our lists of "Things I Want To Do."