Rhythmic Silence in Ubi Jubi Music

The OM band got a lot of great press over the 2015 Labor Day events. It seems to me that some of that might be didactic in elaborating on ‘Ubi-Jubi-ness’ and just what that really is. To that end, consider the following want-ad which appeared around that time during the search for an Ubi-Jubi Keyboard Player:

Keyboard Player Wanted (Guilford, Alamance, Orange area)

Small, local band looking for subtle keyboard player. You do not need to know anything; we can teach you. Additionally you should be positive in general and open-minded about the following:

Our style is funky and laid-back with sort of a jazzy groove. This means that we are interested in players making space in their playing for other players. The Idea is that you imply more with fewer notes and with ‘rhythmic silence’. It is so much more about what you don’t play and how you manage that than being busy playing stuff all over everybody else. That means that you would artfully punctuate with soft understated chord clusters and rhythm stabs and the masterful presentation of a hip-sounding chop or two at just the right time. Don’t over-do it. The harmonic structure is theoretically complex being often in the realm of extended sevenths, 9ths, 13ths and some sharp11s, but you don’t need to worry about anything like that because we will insure that you have the simplest, reductionist, down-to-the bare-bones, scanty-voiced cluster technology available to humanity at your disposal. A soft touch and a smooth approach will get you the position. We aren’t too concerned with virtuoso scale-mastery or big-band standards or classical repertoire, etc. We need you to be open to fitting-in and not messing us up. I’m being fair to everybody about this, okay? 🙂
Also come to the gig clean and sober.

Also of interest to the subject of Ubi-Jubi, but most especially relating to Musicosophy’s expression of it is this selection from the Burlington (NC) Times:

Original Musicosophy Band plans fun Musical Chairs show

The Original Musicosophy Band has “developed a type of Universal Harmonic Unity,” according to the band’s co-founder, guitarist and producer, axamaxa.

“We grew out of local sessions that we had where all Musical Elements were related to all things through a Living Sonic Consciousness. As strange as that sounds, it was also very effective, sounded melodic with a pleasant sweetness, and held a fascinating intrigue. We continued to develop this idea to the point where we just had to share it with others. In so doing we formed our band, which has continued to grow and consolidate into one organic whole when we play now.”

So Ubi-Jubi, it seems is more about what is implied by the ‘rhythmic silence’, artfully applied, than about which notes are actually employed. Also, in reading the article by Charity Apple in the Burlington Times, we find out that both Sound and the Silence that encompasses it are related by an Integrated Unity. This indicates that the ‘playing of spaces’ within the Music is rooted in this Universal Harmonic Oneness that ties together all things and is Essential in Musicosophy’s expression of Ubi-Jubi.

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