The Jewish Observer

Every year, usually in March, I take the Temple Israel Confirmation Class (15 – 16 year olds) to New York to experience the depth, history and variety of Jewish life there. I have just returned from this year’s trip. Every year our some of our nighttime activity includes something from the unique entertainment in New York, a Broadway show, comedy show, concert – something to round out the students’ experience while in New York. This year that included a show called “Stomp.”

How to describe “Stomp?” It is a unique presentation by a group of musicians/dancers. They create rhythmic music out of all kinds of odd items. The opening “number” starts with a single man on stage sweeping with a broom. His strokes take on a rhythm. Soon others are on stage with brooms, adding their own rhythms to the original one. The result is an amazing kind of music created by every day sounds. As the show progresses, the items used become more interesting. Some of the vignettes tell a little story. There are no words spoken, just expressions, sounds, and movement. The most interesting centered around a man trying to read a newspaper. Others join him. One begins to cough and sneeze (all in an interesting beat). The shuffling of the newspapers, as people read, adds to the layers of sound. Rather than just being an unorganized cacophony, the sounds become a pattern, with each person’s contribution adding to the beauty of the overall sound effect as well as adding to the story line.

Why all of this made an impression on me is simply this. It forced me to think of the sounds we hear every day, every place we go, not as just random noise, but as the potential for music. The vignettes of “Stomp” were not an aural version of a Jackson Pollack painting – all random colors splashed without a visible sign of forethought or order. Rather, each taught that our seemingly disorganized sounds are the basis of rhythm – the rhythm of life itself. The use of mundane articles, garbage cans, brushes, sticks – you name it – teaches that there is music in every mundane action of life. Whenever we make a sound, it contains the potential for music.

Further, the vignettes in “Stomp” were a reminder that we live our lives in rhythm. There are patterns to what we do every day. These patterns often involve noise that could be the seed of something musical. Think about brushing teeth, for example. The brushing can make a rhythmic sound, create a pattern. The opening and closing of our mouths change the tone. Out of that simple act music could be born.

I think that our challenge is to hear the world not as random noise, but as a musical pattern. Every person is part of a grand orchestra. The noise we make is a symphony. Perhaps part of our satisfaction with life comes from being able to discern the music in the world, and hear our contribution to the rhythm of life. How sad for the person for whom life is just noise.