Mount Gambier has, this weekend, played host to the annual Generations in Jazz event. Since 1987, jazz experts, performers and teachers have gathered to instruct, adjudicate, entertain and inspire a thousand students or more from many parts of Australia. Locals make their houses available to accommodate competitors, volunteer on gates, direct in parking areas, gather bands together in the Green Room, and other such things. Without them it would all be impossible. Although there are many people in Mount Gambier for whom Generations in Jazz (GiJ) is merely a passing phrase, for much of the community it is an event that brings people, money, music and joy into the town.
It struck me this weekend that GiJ is one of those GOOD things in life—a positive phenomenon that blooms with fantastic outcomes for everyone. Musicians of all ages and stages are drawn together under the banner of performance and love of the genre. Buses roll into town carrying stage bands and vocal ensembles of the hopeful; the excited; the dreamy; both the brilliant and those who simply love it; and those who organise and make it happen for each school.
So, yes, there are certainly GOOD things happening in the world. Of course that is true. It can be easy to forget, though, between war, terrorism, knife attacks, climate and weather events etc. I read very little news and watch even less—head in the sand, perhaps, but it increases the proportion of GOOD things I see and experience. I wouldn’t necessarily advise it as a way to operate (I’m woefully out of touch) but it works for me.
And today I feel quite buoyed up by the buzz in town and the sense that there are a more than a thousand kids, staff, volunteers, families, friends, aficionados and fans who’ve taken another step forward, or at least had fun, or contributed to something GOOD.
Let’s enjoy it!
Until next time,
Kirsten
Everyday Thoughts of an Artist 