I continue to believe that with enough practice and all of the growth
in our knowledge base will lead to all positions becoming viable.
I agree, but I have some thoughts to add. I feel it's important to address
younger players who are no longer beginners, and maybe have even entered
into the world of advanced diatonic - on the subject of positions and keys.
I think that alot of us who when first having broken through to an advanced
or professional level of playing feel this tremendous momentum to keep
exploring, and the next step very often seems to be either playing in all
keys on a single harp and/or getting the chromatic scale on the mighty
diatonic. Some people have taken this dream farther than I have, by
alot. (It has not been in any way my dream in more than 30 years.)
I have heard alot of players who went into the diatonic-expansion business
on this rush of creativity and energy, and though I would be the last guy
to advise a young player to do anything but follow their interests, I
honestly haven't heard very much real musicianship in that field. I'm
deeply impressed by the best explorers, but that's because their ability to
make real music is highly developed. Howard Levy, for one, has made great
technical advancements, but he plays real music with those developments.
I recall seeing A Family Thing with Robert Duvall and James Earl Jones, and
hearing this terrific diatonic playing on the soundtrack and thinking
"Damn, that's someone who really knows how to make music on the little
harp." And that was Howard Levy playing mainly very simply.
On the other side of the coin, I have heard some demonstrations by players
who became intrigued with tuning harps, and got very good and creative at
it --- long before they could play two convincing licks.
My first real interest in a new position was sparked by a post by Pat
Missin here in the late 90's, when he talked about 12th. I had never even
thought of it before, but I tried it out and I love it. I had been playing
more than 30 years at that point. I've also learned to love the
mind-expanding possibilities of first by learning some Irish Fiddle
tunes. Fifth and now ninth are grabbing my attention, as they both give us
really fine and useful colors.
Perhaps before I'm through I'll have finally explored all the keys. For me
it's about cutting new paths in my brain, and being able to bring some
fresh colors to jobs, and that excites me.
Like I say, I can only encourage young diatonic players who have broken
through to follow their interests, but I feel that I must advise you to
work your butts off on second position, developing your creativity and
musicianship in that position even while you explore the other positions
(if other positions interest you). Dive deeply into the subject of second
position, and apply an ever-improving handling of dynamics, phrasing, time,
color, swing, speed and slowness within its limitless limits.
It's not like you have to earn the right to explore the positions, but that
exploration is of much greater value to players like Michael Rubin, who
really plays music when he plays harp.