[Harp-L] Re: Gussow in Princeton Alumni Weekly please read

[Lare Sattler <lmsattler@xxxxxxx>]

   I just recently got into the Gussow/ Princeton thing and was not interested to the point of going back through all the muck that was apparently said. I generally, by choice, stay away from "heated debates" whenever possible, but as a fan of Adam's playing and teaching, I read the original article so I'd at least know what was being written about. I have since read posts that are being put up and see where harp-l-listowner is coming from. As a 60+ year singer, 50+ year guitar player, 20+ year harp player, I have heard a lot of changes in the music scene. I play basically blues/folk guitar with no aspirations of high-speed rock. My 20 year old step-son on the other hand is a fusion metal player who plays stuff I'll never figure out and can't even relate that it's on the same instrument. Though it's not my cup of tea, I still respect it a great deal. I feel that way about any instrument, especially harp. I'm old school about everything and when I took
 up harp in earnest, I only listened to the classic players. That's what I wanted to play like and tried to emulate. I have since, thanks to the "net" expanded my horizons greatly. I'm not a big fan of speed rock guitar and feel a slow bent note speaks volumns over ten fast ones and the same goes for harp. That means no disrespect for the "Poppers" and "Riccis" out there. I'm blown away at things I hear from them, it just doesn't speak to me in the same way that the "Estrins and Wilsons" do. I can compare the "Holdsworths and Satrianis" with the "Kings and the Vaughns" in the same way. The point I'm coming to is, we should celebrate music for it's diversity and musicians for giving us the constantly changing, evolving kaleidoscope of choice. Every taste, it seems, can find something to be please with. I have never been a fan of rap (oldschool, remember), but the other day I read it likened to what, as a pre-teen I dreamed of being, a beatnick. Beatnicks
 recited poetry to music, essentially what rappers are doing today. I like that! Maybe I'll turn a different ear to it now. In a nutshell I'm saying, "If ya don't like it, don't put it down, just don't listen to it. That's your right!" Peace!
 
Lare Sattler   The Little Chicago Band   Canton, Ohio