Paging Dr. Jung

Have I mentioned how much Samson likes music?

We, or more specifically he, got to join the Woodstock Earth drum circle this past Sunday. Apparently it starts at 4, so we were about a half hour late, but young Samson spent almost an hour and fifteen minutes drumming his little heart out.


He takes a little while to warm up to new things, so we spent a few minutes across the street just listening and watching. There was a woman who looked like an extra from the movie 10,000 B.C. who served as the leader (I guess). She had a huge drum that had been wheeled in on a hand truck and was playing it with this giant mallet that was covered with what I assume was wooly mammoth hide.

Next to her was a guy with a cowbell who would intermittently blow into a conch-shell. I made the obvious Piggy joke to Samson, but he was way too into the drumming to care.

Which made me think of Jung and his whole idea of the collective unconscious. As I stood there with Samson in my arms, both of us feeling the primal rhythm as it resonated from 15 or 20 drums in the circle, I began to wonder what ancient doors were opening in his little mind. His blue eyes were unblinkingly watchful, the slightest nod of his head as the drummers sped up or slowed down. It was almost eerie.

I asked him if he was ready to move closer, and he whispered "yeah," and we walked over to the circle. As luck would have it, they put out a box of drums and other percussion instruments (tambourines, cow bells, etc) for interested passerby. You'd be surprised how many casual Sunday strollers pick something up and sit in for a little while.


Again, it all felt very Jungy, very primal, and --- truth be told --- very cool.

I know people always say that having children exposes you to new things, but I'm not sure this is what they meant. Twenty years from now, as Samson embarks on an ethnomusicology expedition to the Amazon (or calls to tell us he's dropped out of college to make hemp bracelets and live on a beet farm and by the way, could we please call him "Darkstar,") this may seem like a seminal point in his life.