Subject: [Harp-L] I want to play chromatic like Stevie

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

Robert Bonfiglio writes:
 
"Well, I would like to play chromatic like Stevie Wonder, but I  can't!!

I notice how Stevie's name is always left off the list when  diatonic 
players mention why they don't like the chromatic.  But Rob  Paparozzi and 
Clint Hoover and Mike Turk and Randy Singer and the list goes  on.... all 
play both and very well.

So remember, Rob Paparozzi is  joining me for the "Chromatic Harmonica for 
diatonic Players" seminar Aug 8  - 13.  I can teach you to play chromatic, 
but I can't teach you to play  like Stevie.

Harmonically yours,

Robert  Bonfiglio
http://www.robertbonfiglio.com";
 
.........I'm a huge fan of yours (having already acquired 5 of  your CD's) 
and of Randy Singer's Harmonica Dreams.  I haven't yet  "discovered" Rob and the 
other chromatic players you mentioned, but there are  only 24 hours in a day 
and since I'm awake for most of them <g> .....I'm  sure I'll soon get to hear 
their music as well.  
 
 I'm not sure you realize just how high up in the stratosphere your  playing 
seems to people like me. Or that Stevie Wonder is just so far above  
"mentioning" perhaps because he's a super star singer/songwriter who  incorporates 
harmonica playing into his songs (the public  perception).   It was mentioned some 
time ago that he would issue  a Harmonica CD and I haven't heard anything 
more about it.  That would be a  thrill.   I'm also a fan of his.
 
 I've played chromatics since childhood - as well as double-sided  Echos.  It 
never dawned on me that there was a difference in harmonicas nor  that a rift 
existed between "diatonic" and "chromatic" players. I stopped  playing 
harmonica for many years for varied reasons, playing  piano instead and only 
recently returned to my first love, discovering in  the process that I've missed so 
much while "away".  I'm dancing as  fast as I can now, playing catch-up. 
 
 The one (and only)  thing I found uncomfortable about my  first Buckeye 
experience was the obvious distaste many chromatic players of the  old school held 
towards the Blues diatonic players and their "noise".  I  love the melodious 
sound of the chromatic harmonica as played on Randy's  Harmonica Dreams album 
and every one of yours, from the Grand Canyon  music to my latest thrill:  
finding that I can play along with  your 'Sleepwalk' (these small pleasures make 
life good <g>).  But I  also fell in love with the harmonica as played at the 
late-night Blues Jams at  Buckeye.  That also "spoke" to me.  I was astonished 
 by the depth of my yearning to play that way, to  make that noise too. 
 
 I so dislike the idea that one is (or has to choose to  be)  either/or.  I 
know some diatonic players who honestly  feel that chromatics are taking over 
the harmonica world and shunting them  off to the side so the old Blues music 
will eventually die out if no one  new takes up the mantle, while there are 
chromatic players who feel quite the  same  - as if their style of playing is 
looked upon as "old hat" and  they're being forced to move over to make room for 
what they see as "new and  funky" music.
 
 Early on I was even solicited (if that's the proper word) by a  chromatic 
player who suggested that I should join another list  rather than harp-l because 
his was devoted solely to chrom players.  This  is a gulf that needs badly to 
be bridged, since I constantly find myself - a  rank amateur at that, having 
constantly to explain and defend my love for  both.   I think perhaps your 
teaching seminars -- Chromatics for  diatonic players -  might help do a wee bit 
of that bridging  and  SO wish I could attend since I've never had harmonica 
instruction  of any kind, but August is a horribly busy month this year.  
 
The bottom line is - we all play and love the harmonica despite  our wildly 
varied tastes in music.  That is our common bond - so  who cares if some prefer 
a button and others don't?   We all should be  supporting harmonica players 
of every stripe just because they play  harp and we all love this deceptively 
simple little instrument.
 
(And my aims are modest - I still only aspire to play one-tenth  as good as 
Randy or you <vbg>).
Elizabeth