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My Conversation with Wind.

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By Matt Lavelle

Sometimes my worlds come together.

Even NYC feels the change of the seasons at times.We actually had tornadoes touch down in Queens and Brooklyn recently,ripping up and throwing trees around,.causing electrical mayhem.The last few days I've been in wind gusts blowing new yorkers right into traffic.(Stand next to a mailbox if it gets really bad).I live way uptown not far from the river and the wind is especially strong the closer you get to the water.Sometimes the wind has to travel through the streets broken up by all the buildings,.and you end up in an actual wind tunnel.Chicago and Boston have this happening big time.

Way down in Brooklyn they have far less high rise buildings,.and I was out in the warehouse district where you can actually see the sky.(Gentrification will change this soon enough).The clouds had a really fast tempo,.just MOVING.They looked lower and stretched out.I knew the wind was behind this.I was in Brooklyn to perform music for the festival of new trumpet music organization and just had my flugelhorn.I arrived early and felt the urge to play outside and “activate my lip,.."a brass thing.

My flugelhorn,.also known as HOT SILVER,.is really something.She has a whole story and history like all horns,.but she has stayed with me as the others have come and gone.I'll never leave her as long as she decides to stay.I've had her for over 20 years,and got her with a credit card that I declared bankruptcy on.She's a Yamaha lightweight model,.which I didn't know when we first got together.She's been on life support at times and was once saved from meltdown by my man Josh Landress,.brass master.

The Flugelhorn is a fat wide open horn with a tinge of sweetness.Flesh on metal is the actual physical relationship that turns her on,.a true WIND instrument.It's taken me years to understand her unique sound production and potential,.and how you cant be rough on her like you can a trumpet.You can get rough on a trumpet and she'll give you attitude,.but try to get rough on a flugel and she will take away her SOUND.She just leaves unless you take your time.(Roy Campbell Jr revealed some of the secrets of this craft to me.) It's taken me many years of searching to discover and accept that she reveals my most personal voice.

Not only that,..but she lets me talk to the WIND..

As I started to play long tones outside on that deserted Brooklyn street corner,.I felt an instant connection to the natural energy outside.The Sun had set about 3 hours earlier.As I played I suddenly felt an actual physical and spiritual connection to the wind,.stronger than I feel on my usual riverbank music meditations.The longer I played,.the stronger the connection felt,.until I felt gusts coming right down the street and sweeping all around me.

The wind wanted to PLAY.She was asking me to send her right through the horn,.so we could let the Earth sing her song.I felt like I was a tree,.with my roots reaching down into the center of the Earth while my top branches could reach high up in the sky and feel the wind that only the birds get to enjoy.

I just let it happen.We bonded,.and I let her sing an ancient,.yet present,.and future song all at once.As she sang her song I understood that the Wind has been here on Earth since the very beginning.She has seen civilizations rise and fall,.and that we may be no different.We come and go,.but she has ALWAYS been here.We never listen,.but I was doing more than listening now.For this brief moment in time,.she was letting me BE her.I also was allowed to feel the true nature of her power.

That's when I received a simple message,.as clear as the sweetest sound you'll ever hear.

“Earth changes are coming.Major changes on the scale that nobody on Earth has ever experienced.Your not ready."

“It has NEVER been more important for the artist to paint,.the musician to play,.the writer to write,.and the sculptor to sculpt.The art that humanity creates is the only reason your still allowed to exist.The Earth has no choice but to be herself,.DESPITE the human race.She will regain her balance no matter the cost"

“When you play music,.you can join with nature on much deeper levels than you do now.Access this power to help with the transformation of all that is."

I then found myself in a place of total stillness,calm and peace.Like a lake at 4am.Not a single ripple or sound.Total Silence.

She left me.Moved on.I was all alone.

My flugelhorn was still in my hand though.

I went inside to play,.and knew what had to happen next...

*Dedicated to the Wind,.and to every Flugelhorn on Earth.

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