Finding My Way Back

Live music can be wonderful.

In a spring concert the high school jazz band where my son plays opened their first piece with a brass blast that filled my ears and rattled my rib cage, and I was taken back to the place where music is air that fills and surrounds the soul.

It takes a long time to find this place. I remember my high school days in choir how much work it took.  People have to learn new music, and rehearse together many hours, and while the entire process is good, there are only the few moments where it all coalesces to take people to that spiritual plane.

Most of the people in the audience were in the moment with me.  I’m often amazed that some can be occupying space, but not really present, actually missing the magic as they talk to each other or look at their phones.  I want to touch them and urge them to stop whatever they’re doing because these moments don’t occur often and they don’t last long.        

I was grateful that my son participated in this moment.  He has been playing for many years, developing his skill, finding his inner music.  Here at the end of his senior year, he got to play improvisational solos for almost every song, which gave me pride as well as joy.

Josh Mercer, photo by David Mercer

I wonder if he’ll see this as one of the very best moments of his life. When I was his age, I hadn’t known how few of them there would be, and at one point I had begun to wonder if I would ever find the place again.

My son found it, though, and shared it with me.