Re: [Harp-L] Re: Creativity



Yeah, what he said.

I remember the first time it happened with my playing.  And I remember the
silence for a few seconds after it was over.  Pure Magic!

Can hardly wait till the next time.

PEACE
Scott
Believe in Magic!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wolf Kristiansen" <wolfkristiansen@xxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 6:31 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Re: Creativity


> I find the thoughful comments on creativity in
> harmonica playing very interesting.  I find the
> insults and barbs between some of the contributors
> entertaining, but in the end can do without them,
> because, if left unchecked, they take up too much
> space and have little to do with what we all love, the
> harmonica.
>
> I am a blues harmonica player, nothing more, nothing
> less.  If my chosen instrument were oboe, I would be
> playing "blues oboe" on this earth. So the comments
> that follow come from the perspective of a blues
> player, which I am guessing describes about half of
> the contributors to this list.
>
> I don't think of myself as being particularly
> creative.  I've written two songs in my life.  But
> I've been playing for 30 years, and intend to play for
> another 30. I backed up Albert Collins and John Lee
> Hooker in my younger days. Most of my playing is on
> stage, in front of an audience, and with a beer or
> three inside me.  I still get stage fright if I'm
> stone cold sober.
>
> When I think about it, I create every time I'm on
> stage. I never play exactly the same.  Sure, I play
> patterns, but there are subtle variations in the
> patterns whenever I play.  There are also subtle
> variations in the rhythm.
>
> But my greatest creativity comes when I, and my fellow
> musicians, get collectively "in the zone".  This has
> been well described by other posters in this thread,
> and it's real.
>
> For me, as a blues lover, it can also be described as
> being when I truly "feel the blues" inside me.  It's
> bursting to come out. It feels like an overflowing
> spring. At times like that, my rhythm is effortless
> (other times I struggle), my melodic and harmonic
> ideas come effortlessly and spontaneously, and I truly
> create! I play outside of my patterns.
>
> Sometimes I hear recordings of those magic moments,
> and try to create them the next time I play.  It
> rarely works.
>
> The recent posters are right, this kind of creativity
> doesn't come solely from within.  It comes from
> somewhere "out there". Where? I don't know. I'm an
> atheist, I think, but there's something otherworldly
> going on.
>
> When it does happen, it's the most satisfying feeling
> in the world.  For both the performer and the
> audience.  Make no mistake, the audience hears it when
> you are "in the zone".  It electrifies them. I'm not
> talking about the way they're moved to whistle and
> cheer when a musician puts on a big show by playing
> fast and loud and grimacing a lot. I'm talking about
> the playing that leaves them in a trance. You know
> that happens when there's a one or two second delay
> before they applaud.  During those seconds, they're
> busy coming back to earth after being transported to
> another world.
>
> And of course, that feeling, where you're creating in
> every bar of the music, is better than any other
> feeling, including sex.  Please don't tell our wives,
> (or husbands, for the female players on the list).
>
>
>
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