Re: Lessons

["Stephen Shaw" <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

>From: "Scorcher" <s_c_o_r_c_h_e_r@xxxxxxx>


>I've been wrestling with the whole "Lessons" issue...
>I'm completely self-taught - everything I know I got out of a book, or
>from listening to other players...later, from this & other lists, and
>from talking to guys at jams.
>
>I've been looking for a Teacher for years - thought I met one, but
>couldn't abide his personality.
>
>How many of you has taken one-on-one lessons with a Teacher (not a
>seminar, but real lessons)? How valuable was the experience?
>
>How many of you ARE teachers?
>
>Can a player get to be REALLY good WITHOUT lessons?
>-Scorcher


Hi Scorcher

I think there are two issues when it comes to "being taught" the harmonica.

I think you can get really good at, shall we say, the "control" of the 
instrument without formal teaching.  I would still acknowledge that a good 
teacher could be a shortcut to technical proficiency as long as the pupil is 
receptive.  I'm so pig-headed and cynical in my middle age that I'm 
determined to go it alone on this front #;-)  Since I joined this list a few 
months ago, though, I have to concede that I have learned a LOT about 
harp-playing issues that I didn't give enough emphasis to before, the 
cultivation of good acoustic tone being one example that springs to mind.

The other thing is "being taught" to be a musician.  A few years ago I went 
to evening classes to take the public exam in music that 16-year-olds take 
in the UK.  The emphasis (to my surprise) was on performance, especially 
with other musicians.  I was very receptive (helped by the fact that the 
teacher was a friend) and I can say categorically that the practical 
guidance and ensemble experience that I got in that year was the best thing 
that I could have done from a musical point of view.  The guy let me do 
everything via the harmonica even though I stood out a bit like a sore thumb 
from the other class members.

I came top of the class by the way!  Sorry, I couldn't help saying that!

Steve Shaw.


Want more than the blues?  Try Irish!
http://mysite.freeserve.com/trad_irish_harmonica

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