RE: [Harp-L] Re: Tilting the Harp, & Irony

["Brendan Power" <bren@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ta for the replies. I overstated the irony deficiency angle, I must admit. Any country that can give us The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Richard Prior and countless other fabulous comedians/shows has to have a great humour tradition of its own. And these days, there is so much cultural mixing via the internet that such old distinctions between types of humour must be breaking down.

Richard Sleigh pointed out that some of my punctuation came out looking very weird on Harp-L, probably due to me sending in HTML format instead of plain text. As he said, 'How ironic'.

Getting back to the original topic: Like Steve Baker and others, I do find that tilting the back of the harp up works well for me. On a related subject:

I combine tilting with using my lower jaw to lead in negotiating my way around the harp. It flicks left or right to the next hole with the top lip passively following along. Others move their whole head with lips in lock-step, and there is another school that insists you move the harp while keeping the head still. They all work.

Brendan Power
WEBSITES: www.brendan-power.com â www.x-reed.com
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/BrendanPowerMusic
YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic



-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Wilbur [mailto:mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: 11 October 2013 12:54
To: Brendan Power
Cc: harp-l
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re: Tilting the Harp, & Irony

Brendan some of us Yank's apply " Tongue in Cheek " more often than " Tongue Block "
So we understood you .....it's ok 

Mike Wilbur


On Oct 11, 2013, at 4:24 AM, "Brendan Power" <bren@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Oh dear, I always forget that Americans have an irony deficiency! 
> After a couple of alarmed responses to my last post, I realise once 
> again that British humour is not grasped by our friends across the 
> Atlantic and that we often need to explain the meaning of jokes in excruciating detail.
> 
> 
> 
> Over here (as well as in other English-speaking nations like my native 
> New Zealand, Australia, Canada & Ireland), people often deliberately 
> overstate things, or say the opposite of what they really mean, for comic effect. Itâ
> s intuitively understood and appreciated by all around - but 
> unfortunately many Americans take the comments at face value and misunderstandings arise.
> 
> 
> 
> If I have to spell it out: I love the sound of good Tongue-Block 
> playing - as well as puckering and the rolled-tongue style that others employ. If itâ
> s used well, ANY embouchure is good! Itâs silly to rate one over 
> another; as with the guitar, itâs pointless to rate fingerstyle over 
> pick playing - they are different approaches and get different sounds 
> & effects. Players will prefer one or other for their own personal 
> use, but there is no absolute better or worse.
> 
> 
> 
> I was just joking in an overstated, humorous manner that the TB guys 
> sometimes do give the impression of making that absolute judgement of 
> superiority, mainly because their style was used by Little Walter and 
> other Blues greats. Some of them tend to dis pucker playing for that 
> reason, as if it is somehow not worthy of a true harmonica player. You 
> see that implied or even stated on the purist blues harp forums from time to time.
> 
> 
> 
> As a result I was comparing puckering to having an embarrassing 
> disease or sexual proclivity that one feels the need to cover up, and 
> then making a grandiloquent gesture of coming out bold and proud. The 
> use of the word âNazisâ is a case in point in the ironic 
> overstatement. Over here in the Celtic music scene players often joke 
> about the âTrad Nazisâ who frown on any departure from strict old-time 
> Irish traditional playing. It is widely used and understood in that 
> comic sense. I was using it in the same manner to describe those in 
> the traditional blues scene who think that tongue-blocking is the only legitimate way to play the harmonica.
> 
> 
> 
> Continuing the ironic overstatement to a ridiculous extent, I went on 
> to claim that puckering with a tilt was the best of all approaches. 
> This is something I donât actually believe, and I would have thought 
> that was clear from the context. But apparently not for some - hence 
> this long-winded explanation.
> 
> 
> 
> I hope all is clear now, for whoever needs it spelled outâ
> 
> 
> 
> Brendan Power
> 
> WEBSITES:  <http://www.brendan-power.com/> www.brendan-power.com â 
> www.x-reed.com <http://www.x-reed.com/>
> 
> FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/BrendanPowerMusic
> 
> YOUTUBE:  <http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic>
> www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic
> 
> 
> 
> 
>