York Daily
Record, Monday June 17, 2002
Canine Rhapsody: Dog helps write music
By Mike Argento
Some years ago, the LeBeaus, Jackie and Larry, adopted a Great Pyrenees named Bear. Bear, who really looks like a bear and has a head the size of a basketball, had some behavioral problems. He'd knock things off countertops and was generally a squirrelly dog - a huge squirrelly dog.
And that eventually led Larry LeBeau to record a CD of songs co-written with a dog - although his co-writer wasn't Bear.
What happened is the LeBeaus didn't know why Bear misbehaved. He just did. They talked to some people and wound up contacting an animal communicator, a person who claims to talk telepathically with animals, a sort of psychic Dr. Doolittle. That didn't work out so well. Dogs only talk to who they want to, the North Codorus Township couple learned.
Then, they spoke with Dawn Hayman of Spring Farm CARES, an animal sanctuary in Clinton, N.Y. Hayman talked to Bear and learned that he had been abused by a previous owner and that he was insecure in his new home. Knowing what was wrong, the LeBeaus were able to help Bear by making him feel more secure and safe from abuse.
A few years passed, and the LeBeaus remained interested in communicating with animals. They went to a local seminar. It wasn't so good. They didn't give up and signed up for one of Hayman's seminars at Spring Farm.
Going into it Larry was skeptical. He's an engineer - working with computer software. He's used to dealing with tangible things, not something like telepathic communication with animals.
But he gave it a try.
And, he said, "That's when the magic happened."
During one of his practice sessions, he went into a room with an Afghan hound named Monica. He was warned. Monica is a sarcastic canine, they told him, and she just doesn't talk to anybody.
But she talked to Larry. "You don't really talk to a lot of people," Larry told Monica. "Why me?"
"Why not you?" the dog replied.
They spoke a little longer. Larry asked what was important to her, and she said love and Spring Farm.
Larry asked, "Are we done now?"
"Yes," Monica answered, "you may go."
Larry said he left the room and walked to the common area in the farmhouse. He sat at a piano - he's played since he was 7; he's 45 now - and started playing something he had never played or heard before. He had never composed music before.
He thought about what had just happened, and he realized, Monica had helped him compose that song.
He realized, as he sat down at the piano, that he had heard a voice say 'Play C' in his head. So he did. Then, he started playing a melody, and he heard the voice say, 'Play G.'
It was Monica, he said.
"My God," he thought at the time, "this is an amazing thing." He asked Monica, "That was you?"
Monica replied, "Yes. Wasn't that fun?"
Serial killer David "Son of Sam" Berkowitz's dog told his owner to kill people; this dog tells Larry to write music.
He played the song for others at the animal communication seminar, and they loved it. They told him he should record it. He said if he came up with enough songs, he would.
He kept writing songs. Monica kept helping him, he said. He stays in communication with the Afghan hound even though he's in York County, and Monica's in New York state. "You don't have to be in the same room, or the same state, to communicate with an animal," Jackie said. "Someone in Nevada talks to our dogs."
So far, he's written 34 songs, roughly one a week since last September. He recorded a bunch of them in January, and about a month ago, he had his CD, "Gifts of Joy," in the can. He's selling it via mail order - FreshConceptsMusic, P.O. Box 154, Spring Grove PA 17352 - or on the internet at FreshConceptsMusic.com or at New Visions Books and Iko's Music Trade in York. Larry is scheduled to perform live at the Reader's Café on Broadway in Hanover, on June 28.
The tunes are solo piano with a New Age kind of feel, although his compositions have a stronger rhythm and melody than most people associate with New Age.
When his friends and family hear the tunes, they tell him how nice they are. And he tells them they wouldn't be possible without Monica's help.
And that's when some people's eyebrows rise. Some people say, "Whatever." Others say they believe he was inspired by the animal shelter, but "I don't buy the dog thing." People can believe that animals can communicate, he said, "but getting music from them is where they draw the line."
Inspecting the CD, you notice that Monica doesn't receive a song-writing credit. Larry said, "We wanted to, but we thought there might be some legal issues giving a dog a copyright."
But don't worry. Monica won't be cut out of her royalties. Larry plans to share proceeds from CD sales with Spring Farm.
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