Van Cobian
Van
plays with so much heart, he beams like
a rainbow
onstage – he really captures the spirit
of
the band.
Van
Cobian is a frequent special guest player
with the band and he appears on their
latest CD, "Io" - listen for
the chimes in the song "Trancesurgency." Van
has Down Syndrome which may limit some
of the things he can do, but music is
not one of them. He has been drumming
since he was barely taller
than
his dad's
conga drums. Van has been exposed to
music all
his life and learned very early on how
to imitate the different hand-slaps that
his dad
would
do on his
drums.
Van's
dad
Ricky talks about his early drumming skills –
"My favorite
story was at the W.O.W. Hall at some master drummer thing I wanted to go to
– Van was maybe four years old and I couldn't find anyone to watch him
so I took him with me. There were ten to fifteen drummers waiting for the thing
to begin,
and little Van started playing my drum. He was getting some really good sound
out of my drums! Pretty soon everyone wanted Van to hit their drums to see if
he could get those tones out of their drums too! We all watched and studied how
he did it, and it was just that he was so relaxed; he just has a special touch."
"One
year at the Oregon Country Fair, Van and
I were drumming at the Drum Tower – little
blond Van with his bowl hair cut in there
with some big, seasoned drummers from all
over – and this Cuban guy remarked
about Van's time signature. Sometimes it
seemed like calculus, it was so right on!"
Van's
contribution on stage has to be experienced.
It's not
as though he's a musical prodigy, although
there are times that he is so locked
in, it's incredible; or he'll pick up
the tambourine at just the right time
and
add the
perfect
sound for that moment. He definitely
has skill but it's an intangible thing
that
he
brings
to a performance more
than anything – and his special touch.
Little
Van doing some fierce drumming at age three
|
