Pack Creek Ranch, San Juan County, Utah
Still recovering from the jolt of daylight-saving time.
FLASH MOB
Imagine:
Barcelona, Spain. Main plaza. Sunny Saturday smothered by dense fog rolling in from the sea. Where to go? What to do? Stand still. Wait. The fog will blow inland or burn off. Patience. From across the plaza, the sound of a horn pierces the foggy silence.
Not a foghorn – a trumpet.
Suddenly, out of the fog, two young men rush by. Carrying trombones. Followed by two snare drummers and a bass drum on a cart. All headed in the direction of the sound of the trumpet. Go with the flow. And find a gathering of musicians playing the Ode to Joy part of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as an antidote to the foggy day. The players and singers grow in numbers as the music swells, and onlookers join in.
Did this really happen?
Yes, I was there. And I sang.
What’s the back story?
Many towns across Europe sponsor municipal music – marching bands, concert orchestras, choirs, dance troupes, and festival events. There is an association of these organizations. Not only do the musicians perform locally, but they also often travel together and keep the tradition of Flash Mobs alive – spontaneously performing in train stations, shopping malls, and public spaces. Partly mischievous, foolish joy – partly from knowing that having an audience is part of the music – partly from a sense of musical altruism.
Anthropologists think that homo sapiens sang before we spoke words.
Story:
Many years ago, my religious community decided to provide music for the lonely Salvation Army volunteer manning the Christmas kettle all alone at the entrance to a local shopping mall. The deal was that if you could play an instrument and knew the carols, you could just show up on Saturday evenings between Thanksgiving and Christmas and participate.
We did that – made a lot of raggedy sound and raised a lot of money.
When it became known what we were up to, musicians we did not know started coming to play with us – and singers as well. By Christmas Eve, we had a magnificent mob scene – people with with skill brought their instruments, and people who just wanted to be part of the joy came with the music inside them and sang. The memory of that Christmas still burns bright in my mind.
We were a Flash Mob, to be sure.
For an evening, we were the world – the best part of being human.
If you want to experience a better beginning to your day, go to YouTube and bring up Flash Mobs – there are many videos.
You may feel free to sing along.