By Robyn Dexter

In-depth Editor

For music professor Mark Rubel, music is not just what he teaches, it is his way of life.

“My life pretty much has always been about music,” Rubel said. “It’s always been music; it’s inseparable.”

Rubel said he knew music was what he wanted to do with his life beginning at age 12.

“All I do is teach music, think about music, record music or play music,” he said. “(Music) covers every aspect of human life, but in depth.”

Rubel currently has on display in the Tarble Arts Center his assortment of 35 guitars that he has acquired throughout his life.

“It’s kind of a philosophical approach to my studio,” he said. “In a lot of studios, you just go in and play your own instrument and they capture it, but in my case, I’m really trying to sculpt the sounds as they happen.”

Rubel said his wide range of guitars and bass guitars give him the opportunity to create many different types of sounds.

“There’s a lot of new technology where you can make mediocre sounds and then change it later, like auto-tuning vocals, but unfortunately it never really works,” he said. “My theory is that to get a good sound, you have to make a good sound.”

Rubel described his guitars as paintbrushes to making a good sound.

He said he began collecting them in 1970, but he does not really like to call his assortment of guitars a collection because of the implied meaning behind a collection.

“It’s not really a collection, it’s more of a working stable,” he said. “When you think of a collector, you often think of someone who’s fussy and doesn’t like people touching their stuff, but all my guitars are always just standing by waiting to be played.”

Rubel said his passion for guitars was sparked by his love of music and always wanting to find different sounds out of different instruments.

“It’s also fun to chase them down and find out the story behind them as well,” he said. “I love unique and weird instruments.”

Rubel said out of the many aspects of his life that music encompasses, teaching is the most important.

“It’s the most noble, relevant and worthwhile thing that one can do with their life,” he said. “I enjoy getting to impart some of my love and enthusiasm for music to other people.”

He said he always hopes music helps make life better for his students, and he believes that when teachers teach properly, there is a ripple effect.

“Everyone is a kind of a teacher and a storyteller in their own way,” he said. “A lot of the way I teach is by telling stories.”

He said he hopes students take away a sense of the wonder of music and the vastness of it.

“Even if their passion isn’t necessarily the thing I’m interested in, hopefully being around someone who is super enthusiastic and passionate can translate into their career a little, too,” he said.

In his future as both a musician and as a teacher at Eastern, Rubel said he always seeks to be better.

“I’m hoping to expand the field of audio so we can reach more people,” he said. “But as for music, we’ll see.”

Rubel has been in the same band for 32 years, and he said it is remarkable they have been together that long.

“The recording part of my life is always an unfolding adventure,” he said. “There are always new and interesting things coming down the road.”

Robyn Dexter can be reached at 581-2812 or redexter@eiu.edu.