Re: was bassman, tone, adding musicality, expressiveness

[Will Vogtman <will_vogtman@xxxxxxxxx>]

Personally, I strive for two qualities wrt musicallity and expressiveness (depending upon the situation).
 
1.  When I hear something in my head, I want to be able to reproduce it EXACTLY as I hear it--every nuance.
 
2.  When I don't hear something in my head, I want to be able to channel the music in the air around me through the instrument.  At that point, the instrument IS my voice.  I want to be able to use the instrument with as much ease as I use my own voice in conversation.
 
I have attained neither of these goals.  I am not sure they are even possible goals.  But the journey I take trying to get to those places causes personal growth.  Each step I take, no matter how small, brings me a step closer to allowing my soul to communicate through my harp.
 
Sorry to sound so nebulous and artistic, but I'm not sure how else to put labels on these ideas.  
 
It is easy to determine when one has reached a measurable goal (thus, the Performance Standards Thread).  Non-measurable goals like soul and expressiveness have no metric in their respective domains.
 
Will
 


john kuzloski <jkuzloski@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Following BBQ Bob's discussion of the Bassman and his reiteration of the importance of acoustic tone, I just want to throw in something based on reading posts here for awhile.  It seems that yes, there is a lot of talk about gear and getting a sound/tone you want, and also some talk about getting good acoustic tone.  What I have read less of (maybe because it's harder to explain?) is the importance of what might be called musicality or expressiveness.  It's got something to do with soul or energy or dynamics.  What I'm talking about is the quality in your playing that makes the folks in the bar stop talking and listen to you because you are playing somethging that they can feel.  I think it has something to do with feeling the music yourself at some emotional depth and communicating that.  Not sure exactly what I'm trying to say here; maybe something like -- just like gear can't give you good tone; good tone can't give you soul.&n! bsp; 
 
Okay, so how to increase soul/expressiveness?  Maybe that's the question to the group.  (For myself, I think I try to perform songs that move me; I try to feel them as deeply as possible.  I recall a quote from Dock Boggs (not a harp player) about him sometimes breaking down in the middle of a song because he was so into it!)  
 
- --john k.


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