What It Means To Play the Tambourine
And Other Percussion Instruments That No One Wants To Play
In a band, you have the guitar player, the drummer, the bass player, the lead singer — whom everyone wants to be — and then you have the tambourine player. And that’s who no one wants to be. But according to Chris Rock in his newest Netflix special, Tamborine, everyone must learn how to play. Now, he doesn’t mean that literally. He’s not suggesting that everyone sign up for lessons. Of course, it’s a metaphor. It’s like saying someone has to clean toilets or flip burgers or drive the garbage truck, and he’s right someone does have to do those things.
Playing the tambourine or flipping burgers or whatever doesn’t mean you’re not talented, and it doesn’t mean you’re not deserving of respect. It just means that it’s your turn. It’s a task like everything else. So, if we can begin to think of those pesky unfulfilling tasks as just taking our turn, then suddenly the task becomes a lot easier — bearable.
In relationships, playing the tambourine comes down to having the hard conversations. “Are you happy?” “How can you be?” “How can I give you what you need?” Then you take the appropriate steps. That’s playing the tambourine.
In work, “playing” becomes doing the mundane boring tasks — the filing, the dishwashing, the sweeping.
But the one thing about playing the tambourine is that everyone plays eventually, and the playing is only temporary. In other words, you don’t have to be a dishwasher, an admin or a janitor forever. The tambourine player isn’t a permanent position. So take your turn. Grin and bear it until your turn is over and it’s time for someone else to play. Who knows? You might even enjoy it.
