[Harp-L] Professional grade

[Philharpn@xxxxxxx]

What is missing in this discussion about quality of playing is the term 
professional.

What is a professional? It's a player who can stand in for another player 
with the band at a moment's notice when the star of a SPAH workshop has to talk 
to his ex-wife about his kid at the last minute.

He can do the job. Some times he/she asks, "What key?" if its not HIS band 
he's playing with. Often, he knows enough about music, either through playing 
keyboards or guitar to figure out what key the tune is by watching the "chord 
shapes" the keyboard or guitarist is using. Or bass player.

Most of the people whose CDs the people on this list buy fall into this 
category. These are people who have been playing harp with bands and in studios for 
20-30 years and are thoroughly familiar with the instrument and with a wide 
variety of tunes which they learned either from charts or by listening to a 
recording a few hundred times.

These people are really good at what they do. They are brand names. I have 
Charlie Musselwhite's first LP and many inbetween (and I don't think he ever put 
out a clinker). He may have different views about this--but from my 
recollection, his stuff is good, solid professional work, always was and still is on 
recordings as well in the few live shows I've seen.

I've seen Madcat live numerous times and I think I own all of his recordings 
(tapes to CDs) and I don't think I've ever heard him play a bad note or appear 
at a loss for what to perform on a second's notice. You could probably wake 
him up in the middle of the night and ask him to play a tune (name it) and he 
could and would.

I love Tom Ball's playing and I've spent several weeks listening to Phil 
Wiggins at the Blues Week Augusta Workshops. And Annie Raines is great.

And there is a growing group of people who have mastered the art of overblows 
following in the footsteps of Howard Levy.

The XB-40 has the potential for radically changing the musical scene like 
nothing since the original Richter tuned harp. And if it takes off, it will 
likely find the remarkable players.

But none of these people (or those who play similar styles or genres) -- with 
the possible exception of Howard Levy -- could be considered virtuosos. 

And you know what, I'll bet most of them don't care.

For the rest of us, there is a vast divide between students, hobbyists and 
"intermediate" (nobody is a beginner) player who never get over that notion that 
the harmonica can't be THAT hard to play. Look how little it is.

Not everybody --probably only five or six in a generation -- can be virtuosos.

But we can all make professional grade harmonica playing. All we need to do 
is put in a few thousand hours of practice. And the sooner we get that out of 
the way, the sooner we're ready for our close-up.

Meanwhile, I'm going back to the woodshed, if I can get the stupid door open. 
and find my harp. where did I put that thing?...
Phil Lloyd - ahn