Relax



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Jimmy - aren't your really doing exactly as Douglas Tate suggests?   By
working on your tone and intonation, you're moving forward.   One cannot
move the whole woodpile all at once.    I have many adult music students
and I find that they benefit greatly - because the tell me so - by
learning about music and how to play it, but the successfull and less
frustrated ones realize they can't learn it all at once (although you
can work on several or many aspects at the same time).  Of course you
don't have a burning desire to to become the best harp player in the
world - unless you are 16 years old or younger right now, that's
probably impossible, so you must have more rational goals, like being
the best player you can be and getting the most out of playing music,
which is what being in a band will help you do - and I'll bet your band
mates will be looking for you to improve constantly - its kind of like
all the other relationships in our lives, either they get better or
worse - seldom stay the same.

Doug Tanner

Mr Tate wrote:

"In an ideal world all players would be anxious to learn ALL aspects of
their 'trade', they would, like the greats, be able to play their
instruments to the highest technical level, be able to read a score
straight onto their instrument, be able to improvise on a chord
sequence, be able to listen to a tune once and straight away discern
it's structure and filigree round it."

I play harp for fun. I have no desire to excel, I have no burning desire
to become the best harp player in the world. I have enough of an ear
that I work on my tone and intonation so it's not painful. I practice so
I can play in a band. Playing in a band is fun. I love playing music but
I refuse to let it run my life.

There's a whole world of musicians who do exactly what Mr Tate suggests.
Nothing wrong with that attitude. It's not for everyone.

Rainbow Jimmy







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