MEN IN MOTION
Editor’s Note:
November’s Men In Motion feature is sure to make you smile. Aaron Seglin uses his musical expertise to make the world a better place. He was recently featured on YouTube Channel “Watch Stitch” where he shares his uplifting message about his music journey. What’s really cool about Aaron is his willingness to create life on his terms by relocating out of state and as he says using music to ‘stitch the world together.’
Included in this post is the YouTube video and the transcript is below. Also, be sure to check out his band, 13 Scotland Rd, at the links provided within the post.
Transcript:
Aaron Seglin:
A lot of things don’t come easy to me. But just like that kid who feels out of place until they get on that basketball court, everybody has their place. Music was mine. This was something that I could share with the world and shine with. This is me people, pay attention.
The reason I don’t see is because I was born three months early. I was under two pounds and I could have fit in the palm of my own hand. This was back in 1971 when medical technology was not what it is these days and that made for an interesting life. I grew up in New Jersey, great area to grow up to learn to be a musician.
19 years ago, I met my friend Bill. He helped me get back on the sidewalk after almost getting run over by about five cars. So about 45 minutes later, he walked into the guitar shop and he saw me there. He’s like, “Dude, what you doing?” But he was playing and singing and I just pulled out a harmonica and did a solo. And he was like, “This is it. We’ve got to do something with this.” And I liked it too.
We couldn’t think of a band name and one day he just said, “Dude, 13 Scotland Road.” I said, “Yeah, that’s where we live.” He said, “No, that’s the name.” I said, “What?” He said, “That’s the name of the band.” And eventually it just stuck.
Our first gig happened to be Christmas in Hudson County prison. My father is a psychotherapist. So he worked there and he got us the gig, play something for the guys on the tier. And there were some of these guys, scary as they were, loudest man, “What you going to do? What you playing?” They loved it. And that was when I realized how powerful this music was.
We had what looked like there might’ve been some starts, but we were never quite able to get it off the ground. We had a lot of personnel changes. Bill was like, “I got to get out of Jersey. This isn’t working.”
He calls me and he says, “I’m living in Portland, come up to Maine.” And I said, “How would I get around?” He said, “There’s a place up here and they have services for blind people. So I won’t have to worry about you falling down a hole in the middle of the street again.” I was like, “Dude, I’m ready to commit to whatever we got to do to make this happen.” And it’s been amazing.
Today is Make Music Portland, which is an event to celebrate the solstice. So there’s music all over town. I’m teaching a harmonica workshop and then I’m going to be performing as part of 13 Scotland Road.
It’s an honor to be asked to teach something. You have to learn what people’s mistakes are likely going to be and anticipate them. There’s nothing to see. So you have to say, “Okay, my students are probably going to get this right. And they’re probably going to not quite get this so let me be ready to guide them.” A concept that I learned growing up being Jewish is [foreign language 00:03:00], which is ‘stitching the world together.’ Using my talent and abilities to help make the world a better place.
Music keeps me inspired and inspiring. The best moments come when things are almost going wrong. Like I played a wrong note, but then I salvaged it and turned it into an amazing solo. Moments where, as a band, we just did something amazing, and the people all felt it inside, and that’s us up there making their food taste better and their day better.
Following Aaron Seglin:
- Facebook: @13ScotlandRd
- Website: www.13scotlandrd.com
- YouTube: @13ScotlandRd
- Aaron’s harmonica solo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPoMG…
Image Descriptions:
- The photo in the header image is the same one used on the Beyond Sight Magazine Cover. Aaron’s photo is on the cover, he is on stage performing with the band. The masthead is teal with “Beyond Sight Magazine” in black text. The dot on the ‘i’ in ‘sight’ is the eye used for our 2020 Year of Vision Campaign (described HERE). There are 3 lines of text that says “Everybody has their place. Music was mine.” In the bottom left corner is a teal circle with an illustration of a blind man in motion with his white cane and “Men In Motion” is yellow text under the circle.
- A gallery of three photos shows Aaron on stage performing with the band.