Augusta Blues Week Review[long]

["Bob McGraw" <rmcgraw@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Iceman suggested a review from a student at Blues Week,so here goes:

Some  off-the-cuff observations about the week.

I took classes from Carlos,Grant Dermody,and [of course]The Iceman.

Carlos,one of my absolute favorite contemporary players,focused on
techniques involving OBs/ODs,scales,positions beyond the first three,etc.And
tone,of course.Lots of good information and practice tips here,that's for
sure,and it was very cool to sit  a few feet from Carlos and listen to him
play...I must say that the greatest thing about Carlos's class,at least for
me,was  hearing him up close,hearing him talk about practice,about the
process of becoming a better musician...it was just an inspiration,folks,a
real inspiration...and The Iceman is right;Carlos SMOKED the house at the
Thursday night concert.Wow!Made me proud to play the harmonica.If you for
some reason haven't listened to Carlos yet,you owe it to yourself to do
so.What Carlos is,by his own description,is a guy whose trying to combine
Kim Wilson and Howard Levy.And succeeding,IMHO.

My other daytime class was from Grant Dermody, whose fine new CD I'm
listening to as I type these words.["Crossing that River"...check it out!You
can order it from Grant at gdermody@xxxxxxxxx ] Anyway,Grant is an excellent
teacher...very encouraging and positive but without any phony jive
compliments.Grant's class focused on traditional acoustic playing;we learned
tunes, worked on tone production, duo playing[two harp players playing
together;that's like an oxymoron,huh?]   and comping techniques.Very useful
class,especially for me,a person who maybe hasn't learned as much as he
should have about traditional acoustic playing.And Grant's duet with Phil
Wiggins[yeah,it's on the CD] was a highlight of the Tuesday night
concert.[Two concerts,one on Tuesday,one on Thursday;both a mixture of blues
and swing]

I also took The Iceman's "mini-class".....A VERY interesting class that
really didn't focus on technique but rather on the mental or[dare I say it?]
spiritual aspects of playing the harmonica. In my view what Iceman is doing
is applying some Zen concepts to harmonica,i.e. mindfulness,or being in the
moment,etc.Several of the little drills that Iceman had us do amounted
to...well,to meditations.He used Kim Wilson as an example of how a harmonica
player should exist in the musical now,thus allowing him or her self to tap
into improvisation more deeply.I found all of this to be quite helpful for
me as a player and performer...perhaps some of you are like me in that you
would like to be able to reach that place of inspiration more often?Iceman's
class helped,I think.

I could go on and on about the week,folks,because it wasn't just the classes
and instructors,it was all the other students,from beginners to some very
advanced players...I learned some cool stuff fellow students..there was just
a tremendous feeling of collegiality among all the musicians,but especially
among the harmonica players.And the jam sessions everywhere,all the time.It
was a great week...I strongly recommend Blues Week at Augusta.I learned,I
heard great music,met great people,played harmonica everyday until I was
tired of playing harmonica...who could ask for a better vacation?Maybe I'll
see you there next summer...
WVa Bob