Anna Marie Lux of Janesville Gazette wrote a very nice story about me and playing piano for silent movies. Here are some excerpts:
Key performer: Piano player does the talking in "silent" films
Yuri Rashkin slid his fingers across the piano's keyboard in a rush of familiar songs. "On Wisconsin." "Mack the Knife." "Misty."
On the screen, the little tramp outsmarted the villain to win the beautiful girl.
In the audience, Lucille Shimanek could hardly sit still.
"I just want to get up and dance," the 93-year-old said, her knees bobbing up and down. "I used to watch these movies when I was a little kid. They didn't have any taking, just a piano player."
Lucille grew up on the films of Charlie Chaplin, a creative genius who knew how to make people gigle with his waddling shuffle and twitching mustache. Chaplin's early films were silent, except for the music that spoke volumes.
Today Rashkin is providing a whole new interpretation.
He is best known as a Janesville City Council member But professionally, he plays and teaches piano. Recently, he began doing something he has wanted to do for years. He plays live piano to the showing of three classic Chaplin films: "Easy Street," "The Immigrant" and "The Adventurer," all made in 1917.
Rashkin takes his show on the road, mostly to senior-living centers. Recently, he performed at Janesville's Huntingon Place, where Lucille lives.
"I express my thoughts through my fingers," Rashkin explained.
He might slip into strains from "The Titanic" during scenes of Chaplin aboard an immigrant ship. Or he might pound out a few chords of Pink Floyd's "Money," when the little tramp can't find his wallet. Rashkin estimates that he plays a couple dozen familiar songs during the hour-long performance. The rest is improvisation.
He knows the power at his fingertips.
"I feel like a conductor," the 36-year-old said. "The movie can go in any direction I choose. I can make it a happy moment or a serious moment."
He has been enjoying Chaplin films ever since he was a boy growing up in a Jewish family in Moscow. A family friend played piano to the silent films, which were unlike anything the child had seen in the Soviet era.
"The movies were made with a different mindset," Rashkin said. "They had no message and no ideological bent. They were just people being goofy."
His parents wanted their son to have special skills, so they sent him to music school. His first instrument was the violin. The upright bass.
At 13, Rashkin and his family came to the United States as refugees. The former Soviet Union had a policy of national reunification, which sometimes allowed family members to move to be with relatives.
"My parents wanted to protect me and my brother from having to serve in the Soviet Army and to give their children the best opportunities they could," Rashkin said.
His uncle arranged for a Jewish relief agency to send his parents an invitation from Israel. His parents put together the detailed paperwork, got approvals and left. They departed Moscow in 1988 and landed in Austria. Then, they boarded a train that took them across the Alps to Italy. Later, they flew to Salt Lake City, where Rashkin's uncle lived.
Today, in addition to his silent-film program, he plays a hundred melodies during an hour-long show called "Songs You Know and Love." In addition, Rashkin is music director for contemporary worship at Luther Memorial Church, Delavan.
"During the interview, I told them that I was Jewish, but they said it didn't matter." Rashkin says.
He leads a praise band called the Back Row and helps with other musical needs, especially during non-traditional services. Rashkin also plays in The Ritual, a Janesville-based funk-rock-soul band.
He has an undergraduate degree in musical composition and just finished his master's degree in mass communication at UW-Whitewater. He begins teaching at Madison Media Institute in the fall.
Rashkin looks forward to his next date with Chaplin.
"For a musician, it is an amazing opportunity to interact with the movies," Rashkin says.
"Silent film is history. It is education. It is fun. When you have an audience laughing with you, it is great."
Key performer: Piano player does the talking in "silent" films
Yuri Rashkin slid his fingers across the piano's keyboard in a rush of familiar songs. "On Wisconsin." "Mack the Knife." "Misty."
On the screen, the little tramp outsmarted the villain to win the beautiful girl.
In the audience, Lucille Shimanek could hardly sit still.
"I just want to get up and dance," the 93-year-old said, her knees bobbing up and down. "I used to watch these movies when I was a little kid. They didn't have any taking, just a piano player."
Lucille grew up on the films of Charlie Chaplin, a creative genius who knew how to make people gigle with his waddling shuffle and twitching mustache. Chaplin's early films were silent, except for the music that spoke volumes.
Today Rashkin is providing a whole new interpretation.
He is best known as a Janesville City Council member But professionally, he plays and teaches piano. Recently, he began doing something he has wanted to do for years. He plays live piano to the showing of three classic Chaplin films: "Easy Street," "The Immigrant" and "The Adventurer," all made in 1917.
Rashkin takes his show on the road, mostly to senior-living centers. Recently, he performed at Janesville's Huntingon Place, where Lucille lives.
"I express my thoughts through my fingers," Rashkin explained.
He might slip into strains from "The Titanic" during scenes of Chaplin aboard an immigrant ship. Or he might pound out a few chords of Pink Floyd's "Money," when the little tramp can't find his wallet. Rashkin estimates that he plays a couple dozen familiar songs during the hour-long performance. The rest is improvisation.
He knows the power at his fingertips.
"I feel like a conductor," the 36-year-old said. "The movie can go in any direction I choose. I can make it a happy moment or a serious moment."
He has been enjoying Chaplin films ever since he was a boy growing up in a Jewish family in Moscow. A family friend played piano to the silent films, which were unlike anything the child had seen in the Soviet era.
"The movies were made with a different mindset," Rashkin said. "They had no message and no ideological bent. They were just people being goofy."
His parents wanted their son to have special skills, so they sent him to music school. His first instrument was the violin. The upright bass.
At 13, Rashkin and his family came to the United States as refugees. The former Soviet Union had a policy of national reunification, which sometimes allowed family members to move to be with relatives.
"My parents wanted to protect me and my brother from having to serve in the Soviet Army and to give their children the best opportunities they could," Rashkin said.
His uncle arranged for a Jewish relief agency to send his parents an invitation from Israel. His parents put together the detailed paperwork, got approvals and left. They departed Moscow in 1988 and landed in Austria. Then, they boarded a train that took them across the Alps to Italy. Later, they flew to Salt Lake City, where Rashkin's uncle lived.
Today, in addition to his silent-film program, he plays a hundred melodies during an hour-long show called "Songs You Know and Love." In addition, Rashkin is music director for contemporary worship at Luther Memorial Church, Delavan.
"During the interview, I told them that I was Jewish, but they said it didn't matter." Rashkin says.
He leads a praise band called the Back Row and helps with other musical needs, especially during non-traditional services. Rashkin also plays in The Ritual, a Janesville-based funk-rock-soul band.
He has an undergraduate degree in musical composition and just finished his master's degree in mass communication at UW-Whitewater. He begins teaching at Madison Media Institute in the fall.
Rashkin looks forward to his next date with Chaplin.
"For a musician, it is an amazing opportunity to interact with the movies," Rashkin says.
"Silent film is history. It is education. It is fun. When you have an audience laughing with you, it is great."
