Re: Rhythm, Minimal Harp Content?

["Stephen Shaw" <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

> > Any suggestions on how to improve that?
>
>http://www.angelfire.com/music/HarpOn/exercise.html#top
>
>Spend a lot of time playing along with CDs, radio, playalongs by ear
>concentrating on timing, feel & rhythm.  With practice and more practise
>you'll get it.
>
>When you're timing & rhythm is tight then you can focus on your phrasing
>which is utterly dependant on good timing, feel & rhythm.  Mimicking the
>best players is one good way to learn how to get about so you can start
>doing your own stuff.
>
>G.

I agree, but ultimately it is your musical relationship with other players 
in your band that turns the "technically good" into something that's on a 
higher plane altogether.  The hard core of my music making is a little band 
of three.  By now we are so comfortable with each other's sense of rhythm 
and timing that we can concentrate on enjoying what we do (even though we 
may not exactly set the world on fire).  If an unfamiliar musician joins us, 
no matter how good, there's a bit of adjusting to do at first on everyone's 
part.  These things are unspoken, intangible, organic.....and you won't get 
them from a metronome or playing along with a CD, valuable though these 
things may be.  Then you get the player who just doesn't get it.  No matter 
how proficient he or she may be technically on their instrument, everybody 
else spends a slightly uneasy evening making little compensations for the 
newcomer's rhythmic deficiencies.  How many people on this list know that 
feeling!   I think that listening to recordings of yourself, either in a 
band setup or solo, made on something decent such as a portable minidisc 
recorder, is a good way of finding out where you are when it comes to rhythm 
and timing and maintaining a steady tempo - and if possible get an 
independent, knowledgeable opinion from someone who won't pull their 
punches!

Steve Shaw.


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

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