Afterword, Act II: Scene 7. The Split

S: Let the meeting come to order

C: Our agenda is clear

The new musicians

Have a need for mind expansion

Fed up with the lies they’ve been told

They want to break out

Way beyond the intellect

Your psyche is more vast

Than anything you see in this world

S: Original music restores us

Through adherence to natural laws

And spiritual applications

We hope to present this heirloom

Left to us by the great black scientists

Of our ancient heritage

T: My purpose

Is to awaken my people

To the music of our heritage

Why can’t I play the Harlem Blues?

Can’t I play what I feel?

C: There is no limitation

Unless you feel that

Our purpose itself is limited

The purpose of this Association

Is to play original music

Those who cannot go along

We’re not asking you to stay

S: The people are not expecting

To hear anything familiar

We are trying to awaken the psyche

Where does heritage come from?

Their psyche was awakened

To the vibrations in the air eternal

Beyond intuition emotion and science

T: A good ballad puts everyone on familiar ground

After that I might be ready

For something foreign

Everyone is not as hip as you are

C: I don’t care how we play or what we play

We are extracting thoughts that are already there

Our purpose is to play original music

If this will not stand

I will have to step out

T: This music has been going on since the beginning

It is almost impossible for a young jazz musician

S, C: We’re not really jazz musicians

T: It is almost impossible

For a young musician to play

If you have no knowledge of your history

A tree without roots has no foundation

C: We are in the midst of a revolution

It’s time for some new music

I have no concern

About how you are going to feel

I’m concerned with how I feel

T: Why do you play in public?

You could just play by yourself

S: We have an audience

As big as the universe

We play to draw people of like mind

This music has a lot to do

With disrupting any status quo or system

C: But our purpose is to awaken the psyche

There are people in the audience

That hear what you hear

They can’t describe it

When you do it

They hear it

C: All the music of the past

Leads us to create new sounds

S: Our musical heritage

Is with us all the time

We don’t have to worry

C: Mister Chairman

I make a motion to adjourn