Re: The Rift

[Bobbie Giordano <bobg@xxxxxxxxx>]

At 01:11 PM 12/5/2003 +1100, Rick Dempster wrote:
>Most instruments have a clearly defined role in the many 
>musical settings in which they are used. The harmonica's 
>role in almost any genre has been slight.
<...>
>But in the world of publicly performed music, the only 
>place where the harmonica has a defined role is in the post- 
>WWII Chicago blues band, and even then, in a strictly 
>instrumental sense, in the style of Chicago blues band 
>defined by  Muddy Waters.
>Reflecting its 'lost boy' ('Lost John'?) vaudeville image, 
>the harmonica, in a band setting, remains the individualists 
>instrument, the singers instrument.

Not meaning to single you out, Rick, but you're just where I decided to come
in on this thread! ;)

I honestly agree with a number of your astute points, but it really is about
time we who are blues lovers primarily, me included, wake up and realize
there is a world of respect given to the harmonica all over the world if we
just learn and recognize it.  For starters, in China, every schooled child is
required to be introduced to music via harmonica!  It's there at the
beginning and continued by many for years afterward.

Just last year, one of the many festivals in the Far East designed to
showcase the instrument in all its variety and capacities had ~12~ pages of
contestants in their competitive divisions with many categories having dozens
of entrants!  Oh, and a mere 40,000 people attended the event and filled a
hall the size of Lincoln Center every night to watch the performances!!  

Out of 45 Renaissances we've sold, 6 in the last two years went to players
located somewhere in the Pacific Rim!  It's no wonder a Taiwanese firm was
determined to buy a controlling interest in Hohner!!  The people's instrument
as harmonica really MEANS something over there!  Not just so because every
kid can afford to buy one at Wal-Mart!

In many European countries from Norway to Spain and beyond, the harmonica and
accordion sounds are integral to the music appreciation of cultures there.
The ones most guilty of diminishing the stature of this noble instrument are
in the countries, especially the US, I'm sad to admit, where blues music is
considered the ineffable calling for the instrument.  It's really ironic to
me how elevating the harmonica commonly takes the form of minimalizing it
into utter humbleness.  Is this smart?

Myself, I also mostly play blues.  I love the blues!  Nothing makes me want
to dance like the blues!!  I even usually enjoy having my blues loud!!!  But
I also feel the harmonica is often not played all that skillfully as it can
be, even by highly respected players, while yet getting my blood pumping and
a smile slapped on my face.  It has THAT stimulating quality too, but the
instrument is much more than that, and a lot... a LOT of people in the world,
more, I believe, than many of us can possibly realize, regard the harmonica
with great esteem and continue to thrill hearing it used in harmonica groups,
mixed bands, orchestras and as that uniquely voice-like solo instrument we
blues players also love.

I've enjoyed agreeing with many who have commented positively about the
effects and enlightenments embodied in the so-called "rift".  Yep, there's
definitely one at the conventions... thank goodness!!  Why do you think we
all wear ourselves out so much and get so little sleep at these things??
Because, like me, most of us are wandering around in a heady daze seeing and
hearing amazing things we normally never expect to see, much less participate
in.  The rift keeps me in constant perplexity endeavoring to decide who, what
and where to go experience next.  Sometimes the rift is sheer torment!!

Sometimes I realize I've just missed one of the very diatonic seminars I
wanted to attend, only to say "oh, well," when I reminisce that I just had
instead a fabulous time sharing chromatic music with some old and new
friends, who are also so caring, instructive and tolerant of my sad level of
talent.  Oh, well... just that rift again.  Occasionally, I wallow in the
camaraderie of a blues jam rather than get adequate sleep, only to find out I
missed a group of players drawing a huge crowd in a hallway with their first
ever Celtic collaboration together.  Damn that rift!  Then there are times I
learn how alike it can be to tweak a reed on a diatonic as well as a
chromatic.  Some stupid rift that is!!

So here's my suggestion... go to harmonica conventions, but expect to meet up
with "The Rift".  It's everywhere you turn, you can't escape it.  So, you
might as well just accept it and do what you came to the convention to do in
the first place... observe, enjoy and learn from The Rift.

And when you see me there, come on up and introduce yourself and tell me what
side of The Rift you're on...

And let's talk about it!
Viva la difference!!!

=[BOBBIE]=

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