Re: Stigma

[Douglas Tate <dougtate@xxxxxxxxx>]

At 23:36 16/06/2003 -0600, James Thurgood wrote:
>  Is anyone getting annoyed?)  - thurg

Nope.

Just a little saddened by the fact that harmonica players feel they are 
unique amongst musicians, and that the instrument is unique amongst 
instruments.

ALL instruments started by being a hollow stick with a few holes in it, a 
box of some sort with a string stretched across it, a hollow log for 
bashing your head against (how appropriate)

As musicians became more sophisticated they demanded more of the 
instruments they pl;ayed and the 'techs' of the time responded with 
sophistication of the individual parts as they discovered how to extend 
range, tonal landscape and ease of playing... Bows added, means of altering 
tuning, extra keys to get hard fingerings out of the way.

The exact same thing is happening to the harmonica... and the pace is 
accelerating.  There are many techs out there pushing the boundaries of 
what the harmonica can do for musicians who have reached the limit of what 
their old instrument could do.

I think that remarks that have been made,  which suggest that observations 
that the public or musicians regard performances by a writer to this list 
as legitimate are the result of inflated egos, is just petty mudslinging. 
As for me, few people ask me to play because of my handsome good looks... 
mostly I'm asked to play because I am better than average at playing 
harmonica and my fees are reasonable. The audience ( of whatever type) then 
either approves or doesn't.  If I am asked back some time later then I 
assume that it is because I enhance the 'show' in some way. As I only play 
music , don't have a rotating necktie or a sinuous assistant to adjust my 
music I have to assume that I am being paid because the 
music/instrument/player combo is acceptable.  Therefore I, amongst others, 
say that I find audiences are quite happy to accept and approve of the 
harmonica.   Yes, I have an ego./.. but I ain't a lier.

I would be interested to know of a good musician in any genre who did not 
get there by hard work, dedication and study.  Whether that study involved 
teachers, listening to many other players and genres of music, or just book 
learning to bolster ability and the hard grind of learning the mechanics, 
does not matter.

The harmonica is still a young instrument with few players of any real 
stature.  Some of the players we DO have are working the world stage 
because they are good enough to do so.  But they are few enough that they 
are spread thin and we don't hear them every day on radio or see them 
frequently on TV.

The marvel to me is what a wonderful instrument 'set' we have. The type I 
play  I use because that is where my mindset is, it provides me with a 
wider musical vocabulary which suits me than any other class or type of 
instrument I have tried, be it string, wind or percussion.

I do my little bit for world peace by not singing.

Douglas Tate