[Harp-L] A most unusual musical experience



So last night, I went down to Ruta Maya to sub/guest-harp for Michael Rubin
as he had another gig.
The setup features an open mic with a house band and I find it challenging
and fun because you never know who might come up and ask you to do what on
the harp. 
The music often waxes free-form and once you get accustomed to the vibes,
it's a wonderful opportunity to try things out that you might not get the
chance to try in musical "real life". 
So as the various open mic'rs set up, I (absent-mindedly) fished out my 270
deluxe and waited to see what the next musician wanted. 
And that's where the magic began.  The "next musician", as it turns out is
deaf and apparently feels, rather than hears the music.
He came up, set up, (I think he was playing the bass.) and we began to
follow him.
I could talk for days about musical consciousness being redefined/turned on
its head, but I'm not exactly sure what I'd say. 
Being at once blind and very much attuned to things aural, it's difficult
for me to imagine how someone could play music without hearing it.
A further difficulty of understanding for me is to grasp how he was
directing us, specifically me when I couldn't see him and he couldn't hear
me.
But magical things happened and we made some very interesting music.
I really don't know how I was able to follow him, but once we all got
started, I wasn't the least bit nervous or self-conscious.
Maybe I was picking up on what the drummer was doing, but despite the
music's seeming lack of resemblance to anything else I'd ever heard, I felt
myself squarely in the middle of it, simultaneously contributing to it and
receiving direction from it. 

As I proof-read this one for the inevitable typos, it occurs to me that I
haven't described the music at all.
Well, I !!can't!! Describe it, but this is the sort of experience that used
to lead us to seek out hallucinogens and such a few years back.
But the only buzz I had going on was from a huge cup of very strong coffee.
Despite my enjoyment of exploration of music theory, I guess I have to
concede to the camp of musicians who often grow frustrated with our eternal
chasing down of scales and modes and
Say... "Just feel it!"...
But I would wish such an experience on any musician as this one somehow hit
me on a very deep level.
Brad Trainham




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