Listening, improvisation, sound, and place are four words that are central to my attitude of being an artist, a musician, and a percussionist. This article spans 25 years of experiences told through 10 short stories: beginning to improvise, buying a tam-tam, learning Music for 18 Musicians, not defining percussion, found objects, the Condamine bell, performative roots, determined indeterminacy, nostalgia, and playing the tam-tam now. Together these stories begin to examine the lived experience of one Australian percussionist grappling with the unstable, dynamic pathways of percussion.