ST AUGUSTINE'S MASOTSHENI ? IS IT JEALOUSY OR JUST BEING TERRITORIAL?

THE EBONY AND IVORY JOURNEY

I lived with one of my brothers in Durban between( 1977/ 78) , while doing my secondary school levels . My brother is a keen classical music , pianist  and violinist . He introduced me to piano lessons during this period . I regretted   later in my life , the fact that I had someone , right in my house , who was more than willing to offer me piano lessons free of charge , but regrettably failed to take advantage of that opportunity . I just lacked passion at the time . My brother , on the other hand , proceeded to do his music degree through Rhodes University in Grahamstown , South Africa and eventually went overseas , Cincinnati ,   to do his Masters .
When I left Durban in 1978 , I went back home and resumed , once again where I had left off , with my interest in guitar playing which had started during my primary school days .
A neighbor of ours , Mduduzi Mavimbela , was from Swaziland , he had arrived with his uncle , Mr Masuku , who was a teacher in one of the schools in the Isandlwana area . Mduduzi was a seasoned guitarist , who played his guitar by ear , but very impressive nevertheless . We lived relatively close to each other , I therefore spent most of my spare time in Mduduzi's house , with his cousin , Oscar in particular , who was my friend . Mduduzi's guitar skills had rubbed on me . I subsequently asked him to teach me the craft , he willingly began to give me guitar lessons , the fingering and strumming over a period of time , using his self-made guitar . All of this was done informally ,I had no clue ,whatsoever , of what type of guitar chords I had learnt . Like my tutor , I had learnt to play the guitar by ear as well .
When I came back from Durban , Mduduzi's family had left our village , after his uncle passed away . By this time , fortunately , I could play the guitar comfortably , even though I had not been introduced to formal guitar tuition . I requested my mother to buy me a proper guitar , from our village One Stop Shop , which was owned by a Mr Geoff Johnson . My mother had given me the money to buy my first ever guitar , but unfortunately , when I got to the shop , they were out of stock . Mr Johnson's son was close by , when one of the staff members delivered the bad news to me about the guitar stock  , so he overheard her , and checked with me if I was buying the guitar for myself . He then offered , to sell me his personal guitar . I was obviously overjoyed but wondered if I was going to afford it , but before we could discuss the price , he was gone to fetch the guitar from his house . To my relief , he sold it to me at a discounted price . This was certainly a very nice acoustic guitar , sold with a pouch as well , it was of a better quality than the type of guitar I would  have bought . This was an exciting day for me . I continued to play my guitar throughout my high school days . I met a very interesting guy at school during this period , he played the guitar as well , but his style  , or genre if like , was a traditional Zulu genre called Maskandi . He also played his guitar by ear . We would collaborate with him from time to time to render musical items as part of  our school entertainment . One highlight of our collaboration that comes to mind , was when we rendered a musical item for a visiting school , Ohlange High , in our school hall . We sang , Herald Melvin and the Blue Notes song , titled " If you don't know me by now " . While we were on stage , one student , from the visiting school , threw a coin on stage . It was  as though the flood gates had been opened , coins of every size were just tumbling  down upon the stage , as though the coins themselves were in competition with each other . This was a huge surprise for us  , we never anticipated that something like that would happen . We were grateful though , the entertainment committee collected the coins from the stage and gave them to us afterwards . All this time , I had been playing the guitar by ear , with no formal lessons .

The significant change took place when I was admitted to a Theological Seminary to study Theology in 1986 . For the very first time , I met a gentleman by the name of Glyn Rees , who played the guitar , using guitar chords in a written form , from a book . This was new to me , but I knew there and then , that I needed to learn that new skill . After all , some years earlier , my brother had introduced me to the piano lessons  , using a book , so it was not a  totally foreign phenomenon to me  .
Glyn Rees soon took me through the basic structure of guitar chords , your D, E , G , F , Em , and so on . I was very quick to learn all of these , spending most of my spare time , practising in my room . I had realized that Glyn Rees was  actually musical , he was exceptionally good with the piano as well . I had not taken my piano lessons seriously while living with my brother in Durban . Here was a guy , who was just a year older than me , who excelled in both guitar and piano playing . I once again , regretted that I  had missed an opportunity to thoroughly learn to master the piano .
The music department in our College  was headed by a lady , by the name of Lynda Wyngaard . A certain Roman Catholic priest , by the name of Father Doug , had introduced marimbas at our College ,with the help of Lynda Wyngaard , our College got to have two vibrant marimba groups during our time . Glyn made me realize that , it was much easier for someone who had a piano background to play the marimbas . Glyn Rees and Lynda Wyngaard both excelled in the marimbas because of their formal piano backgrounds . I was not that bad either with the marimbas , probably because I practiced consistently .
One of the highlights of this period , was the invitation we got from Archbishop Desmond Tutu , to play the marimbas for him , on his enthronment service as the Archbishop of Capetown , in 1986 . This was my first time , to set my foot in Capetown , thanks to the marimbas and to our College Staff .

My piano journey had not ended , even though , my passion for the guitar occupied a greater part of my life . My  time in college made me realize , how important it was , to at least , have some piano background .  Time was against me , after completing my studies , I had to attend to new responsibilities as a newly ordained priest in my church . Tutor fees ,  for piano lessons were a challenge for someone who was in my position , with a young family to take care of . It was until a couple of years later , when I had been transferred  from St Mathews , Emdeni , Soweto to St Luke's Anglican parish , in Orchards , Johannesburg , that I was able to resume with my piano lessons , once again . I had been assisted by , one of the parish's organists , an exceptionally gifted lady organist . The challenge was again , time constraints . I used to go to her house for my piano lessons , once a week . Sadly , I could not take my piano lessons further than that point . So whenever I listen to Paul McCartney and Steve Wonder's song , titled " EBONY AND IVORY" , I'm consciously , reminded of my  piano unfinished journey . For the chorus of this song , say " EBONY AND IVORY live together in perfect harmony , side by side on my piano keyboard , Oh Lord , why don't we " This is a big and powerful song indeed . EBONY AND IVORY in this song , refers to black and white notes on the piano keyboard as well . As the saying goes , " If you play black notes only , there's no harmony , if you play white notes only there's no harmony either , but if you play black and white notes together , there is harmony .