When the Saints Go Marching In - The Duet Paradigm in Action!

Tanny Labshere is one of my students - a young woman with exceptional musical abilities who was born blind and is also hearing impaired. We began working together four years ago when I started teaching music to Tanny and other women at Riverbrook Residence, New England's oldest and finest facility for women with disabilities.



My relationship with Tanny has progressed and deepened over the years. You can hear it in this improvisation. Something is happening through the medium of music. A CONNECTION. It's unpremeditated. We're each creating music individually and yet we're also TOGETHER.

Listen for what's beneath the music--the relationship between us. You're seeing and hearing two individuals who are independent, free, and inspired, and who are also collaborating creatively in response to each other. This dimension of relatedness is there, between everyone. You can sense it in your interactions. It's subtle. I suggest this: really listen to another person at the same time that you're listening to and expressing yourself, risking, stepping into the unknown. That's what we are doing here. THAT is duet!