THE STORY OF "ROOTS AND BRANCHES"
I have been fortunate that the first 30 years of my life were dedicated primarily to playing and studying music. Since then I have found myself fascinated with the art and science of bodywork, the connection of mind, body, and heart in my school, in workshops, and in private practice. “Roots and Branches” is however one way it all came together.
My musical background included playing and studying guitar for the four years of high school at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. Then I became fascinated by Indian music and in 1967 studied sarod (similar to sitar) at the American Society for Eastern Arts in Berkeley. After that and a few years of bouncing in and out of college, I got a Bachelor’s degree in music composition from University of Illinois, particularly studying with the radical electronic and computer music pioneer, Herbert Brün.
Later I became more interested in learning, practicing and eventually teaching massage and Zero Balancing. However, early on I began the practice of occasionally picking up my guitar to accompany students and workshop participants as they practiced. I wanted to deepen the emotion and flow of their sessions. I never thought of recording; it was just improvised in the moment, responsive to their movement.
Some years later, I was approached by Ray Benson, the leader of the award-winning band, “Asleep at the Wheel”, with an idea. He had enjoyed massage throughout his life, but was disappointed with the unimaginative quality of the music that people used. He had the idea of himself coming up with a series of excellent CD’s of music made for massage and he wondered if I would give him feedback on the music he planned to make. I was excited and of course said yes. But a little voice in my head said, “You could do that” to myself. Nothing became of Benson’s project, to my knowledge, however it nagged at me.
One day I woke up with a vision for a way to record which would essentially reproduce that improvised quality of the massage music I was making in the classroom. I called up a friend, David Murray, himself a wonderful guitarist with a little studio, and asked if he would be interested in trying something out. First, did he have enough room in his studio for 3 massage tables? Yes. And might he be interested in getting 3 people to receive massage from some of my best graduates in the studio while I accompanied the sessions on guitar?
He said, “Yes, how about tomorrow?”…no resistance there. So soon I arranged three therapists to give massages and David Murray got three friends to volunteer to receive massages in the studio.
I had no idea coming in what I would play. But I had brought three of my guitars and wanted David’s opinion on which might sound best. He brought out and suggested I might try a guitar he just gotten, a new Martin D-28. I played it - its sound was astonishingly better than anything I had brought. So decided I would use that. The music that resulted was then additionally inspired by exploring the beautiful sounds of this guitar.
Soon the therapists arrived, as did the receivers. David Murray began recording. I improvised for 75 minutes straight while the therapists worked. I was hoping that something good might result. As I played, I found myself exploring the amazing guitar, observing the wonderful therapists’ work, and finding that various of my musical roots were naturally arising in the music: early folk melodies, ragas from India, gentle chords like slow rock ballads, some blues, and other things from God knows where, branching out.
So I felt very happy and right away the title for the CD naturally occurred to me - “Roots and Branches.”
Perhaps you have done something in your life that worked out better than you had hoped. That was the case with this CD, so much so that I have tried to record further pieces, with therapists and all and it just sounds like me imitating myself. Sometimes you just get things right the first time!
So enjoy “Roots and Branches.” It is free on youtube and spotify and can be streamed through Amazon. However, if you still have a CD player, and want one, please order directly through me as Amazon unfortunately has been selling a bootleg CD that is inferior in quality. You can order the CD by emailing DavidL@TLCschool.com
May the nourishing roots of your life, the manner in which they branch out and bear fruit, be as fulfilling in your life as they have been in mine!
