Reflections on the Todd Green experience

The past Tuesday evening, Todd Green, a musician who plays numerous instruments, most of which few of us have even heard of, presented a concert at the Fosston Community Library Arts Center. On Monday he made two presentations at the Fosston school, one for the elementary children and one for the high school students. Although the number in attendance wasn’t quite as high as I’d have liked to see (that Twins play-off game lasted way too long), I would have to say it was a successful event. He is a talented performer, and he gave us the opportunity to experience the instruments and musical styles of many countries around the world.

I also was present for the two lyceums at the school. There he had a captive audience - and by and large, it was also a captivated audience. It is no easy feat to hold the attention of more than 350 kids, ranging in age from five to 11 or 12, but he was able to do it as he told about the various instruments, which included such things as a string of goat hoof trimmings or a metal bowl, and demonstrated how they were played. The audience of junior high and high school students were equally attentive.

At the Tuesday evening concert, I sat behind a set of six-year-old triplets and their mother. The concert lasted until nearly 9:30, and although I could tell the children were getting tired as they leaned on their mother, they still were listening and watching, pointing out to their mom some of the things they remembered seeing in school the day before. She reported to me later that one of the boys, on returning home, told his dad, “Oh, Dad, you should have gone. It was the best concert ever.”

At the board meeting the next day, we looked at some of the evaluations written by the school children. With just a couple exceptions, the kids were obviously pretty impressed, with many of them rating the presentation “great” or “best ever.”

One of the FCLAA board members, Mark Hendrickson, also felt moved to share some thoughts on the concert and the importance of events like this. With his permission, I’m including what he wrote in an e-mail to me:


Our discussion at the board meeting about the larger value of our
investment for the arts, and the comments of other board members who
were so impressed with Todd Green's pan-cultural music and message
have solidified my notion that our little communities are willing, if
not hungry, to hear what the rest of the world sounds like.

Personally, when I listen to an instrumental musician, I feel it's my
surest way of seeing into another person's soul. (Is that a new
idea)? When I experience what is known in the media as World Music,
the rich overtones and undertones of ancient natural-material flutes
and drums transport us, as one of the members observed, to cultures
and people of which we know nothing. (Cultures with whom we now find
ourselves in deadly conflict).

Knowing that others are similarly affected by the sound of an oud
gives strength to my conviction that the most profound thoughts are
not always linguistic in nature, and have commonalities among people
everywhere. We are told these unknown people express through their
music their view of us. When our children are given an opportunity to
hear a performer like Todd Green it provides the key to deeper
understanding of themselves--seen through the words and music of
others halfway around the world.

As you recall, the only negative comments on Todd's amazing
performance were from four pubescent boys who said they were bored. I
bet they wouldn't have been bored if they would have been suddenly
transported to a tent in the desert, surrounded by a cloud of incense
and swarthy bearded men in white tunics with unrecognizable musical
instruments. As artisans we know it represents the Essential Other
Part of an education we have a responsibility to provide.