Teaching journalists
Gerry Kreibich looks back at the early days
A bit of musical philosophising . . .
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One of the best things about a career in journalism is that you can never know exactly what’s going to happen next . . . and in that respect it’s very much like my other great passion – jazz. I’ve played piano in bands, jazz clubs and restaurants on and off all my life, and a few years ago I wrote a song about this ‘life’s like jazz’ phenomenon.
If you'd like to hear it, put my name into a YouTube search and scroll down the various musical items on offer (some of them quite silly!). if you can't be bothered with all that, just read the words . . .
The jazzman’s hands are on the keys, tempo quick or slow,
And the jazzman simply watches as those hands choose where they go.
No dots on paper say what must be done.
The notes are spilling everywhere, and they are having fun.
And fingers move like dancers who have had their share of wine.
But where’s the tune go next? Your guess is good as mine.
Life's like jazz as you tread the path, no matter what you do.
Someone writes your music, but that someone isn't you.
Tomorrow is a secret, you may think you're smart,
But frustration of your expectation - now that's a jazzman's art.
You think you've got three choices, but there's really only one.
You fancy going left or right, but then you find you've gone straight on.
It's just the rather curious way life has. It's just like jazz.
The leader of the band may throw down chords for you to read,
But he can't say what notes to play, and there really is no need.
'Cos the tune will make its own way, born inside your head,
Your big idea will disappear and something else arrives instead.
And life sort of happens though you have a different plan.
Don't think I complain about it, I'm not that sort of man.
It's just the rather curious way life has. It's so like jazz.
Yes, life springs its surprises, the bad ones and the good,
But rarely does the story go exactly as you thought it would.
In this play without rehearsal we are just one scene behind,
But rarely does the script run like the one you had in mind.
It's just the rather curious way life has. Life's SO like jazz.