Re: Harp Experience & Lessons

[haandruss@xxxxxxx (Harvey A. Andruss, III)]

Peter Frederick McGuire <pfm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes on Thu, 12
May 1994 15:50:22 -0400:

>What can be learned that I won't pick up
>by practice and observation?

The problem of formal instruction always boils down to time vs. money. 
Instructors can "hand hold" you through specific issues and get you through
a problem faster than if you tried to do it yourself through self-study,
books, observation, etc, but at a premium of $10-$25 a session, times, at
least a couple of sessions.  Sometimes they want more of a commitment to
their program -- and sometimes that's the best since you are on a regimen
and since you plunked down your money you're going to stick to it and get
from point A to point B in 10 weeks.  Instructors might also be able to
expose you to something you may not have thought of or have ready access
to, but again at a premium.  

The next best thing is videos and that Howard Levy video from Homespun is
good ($50), but again there's the price factor.

Then there's the audio cassette courses.  With you piano/guitar background,
you might find these to be the best since they give you specific sounds to
go after and the documentation at roughly 1/2-1/3 video prices.

Finally there's books, and many of them are so basic as to make you puke,
but some are good, succinct and give a adv. beginner or intermediate player
what they need to get better.  The newsletters and catalogs have
descriptions of all these.  Comb the HarpL archives for the addresses. 
Maybe others have them at their fingertips right now and can forward.

>Also... I am wondering if others found harmonica to be an easier instrument
>to pick up on as I did?

There's a lot one can do right away with the diatonic, esp with a music
background.  But you'll soon learn to appreciate its limitations (how's
your 64th note, 200 bpm, 64th note Van Halen legato doin', bud -- and how
'bout that 12-tone polyphonic chord?) and it's charm (like what Levy calls
the juicy notes) and want to surpass them (like the big guys). Maybe you'll
become one. Good luck   

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Harvey A. Andruss, III                  email: haandruss@xxxxxxx
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