Re: [Harp-L] A most unusual musical experience

[michael rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>]

I am glad Brad got to experience this.  First off, although I have not
talked to the other musicians in the band concerning Brad's
performance, I have no fear sending him in as a sub.  Brad is a great
musician.

I have been working with Jimmy Turner, the deaf singer, viloinist,
guitarist, electric bassist and saxophonist for many years.  Not only
does he regularly guest at our open mic, he has hired me for multiple
full length gigs and we put out a CD together, under the group name
Air Seed.  I really cannot tell you how to get a copy of the CD, but
I've got one and it is wild.  I suggest contacting Ruta Maya in Austin
Texas, they can probably help track one down.

Jimmy also gifted my wedding anniversary dinner by showing up to play
violin at a fancy restaurant.  They had never heard anything like it
before.

Jimmy has been noted to repeat musical phrases a bandmember would play.

Sometimes the magic doesn't happen for me, but most of the time it is
very deep, the band channels the Ornette Coleman vibe.  Other times
the band will play a standard groove and he will solo wildly over it.
 Before each song he mimes (he does not know standard sign language)
directions and his main direction during the song is a hand symbol
that means "Change".

I have seen him clear out an audience and I have seen audiences transfixed.

Anyway, it is very special playing with him.
Michael Rubin
Michaelrubinharmonica.com
On 12/9/09, Bradford Trainham <bradford.trainham@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 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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