Thursday, June 25, 2009... like most summer days, I woke up mid-morning, had some coffee, surfed on the computer a bit, ran some errands, and then sat down to practice during the early afternoon. As a musician and didgeridoo enthusiast, I take my summer practice sessions pretty seriously... I make a concerted effort to improve my skills and increase my overall playing stamina 4-6 weeks before the festival season starts. Even though I do practice fairly regularly during the rest of the year, during the summer months the didgeridoo takes on a whole new persona for me.

I was warming up with one of my standard “toot” exercises, and decided to concentrate on some articulation (tonguing) technique. Without even thinking about it, I suddenly began playing the exact rhythm for Ondrej Smeykal's “Flamenco” from his Didgeridoo Solo I album. For three years, I have listened to and studied this piece of music, but all attempts to successfully reproduce the rhythm on my own have ended in failure. Suddenly... instantaneously... without explanation... on this day I was able to effortlessly perform the “Flamenco” pattern.

For lack of a better description of the event, it was a musical epiphany.


Happy about the wonderful milestone I had reached in my playing, I continued on with my day... I ate some lunch (because you can't practice on a full stomach), ran some more errands, and came back to prepare for my bicycle ride... another part of my “get in shape” routine to increase overall health, stamina, and well being for the summer months.

As I was about to walk out the door, I glanced at the TV, with the CNN talking heads barking out the latest news...

Michael Jackson, a talented musician, composer, and the self-proclaimed “King of Pop” icon within the music industry, was dead at 50. Supposedly, he had passed away a few hours earlier... sometime around when I was practicing.

Now, this strange coincidence got me thinking. From what little I know of physics, theory states that there is a finite amount of energy and matter in the universe.

What if there is Finite Knowledge?

What if the passing of one human being allows the knowledge and energy possessed within that individuals body to be redistributed to others still in this world that can utilize it?