Re: [Harp-L] Reading

[Cara Cooke <cyberharp@xxxxxxxxx>]

Robert is right. Reading is a tool worth having in a musician's arsenal.
Even rudimentary reading skills will allow you to explore music that is
written for other instruments, but might be interesting on the harmonica.
Some gigs are helped considerably by reading skills. On several occasions,
the simple fact that I could read allowed me to make certain I had the
correct harmonicas with me for the activities required in the music, such as
modulating from G to Ab or F to F#. A lot of people do not carry harmonicas
that play well in Ab or F#. Can you imagine getting to a gig like that and
suddenly discovering that you have nothing with you that will do what you
need it to do? (Not all of us play like Howard Levy.)
 Cara Cooke
www.cyberharp.isonfire.com <http://www.cyberharp.isonfire.com>
  On 10/5/05, Robert Bonfiglio <bon@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Reading is just a tool; the reason I teach it in all my chromatic
> seminars is that it is the fastest way to get to technique and cover a
> lot of material. Otherwise you have to learn every technical exercise
> from memory and that takes time. Even with rudimentary reading one can
> cover 50 tunes in an afternoon and figure out what's worth playing.
> It's just a tool and does not make you a good musician.
>
> Richard Hunter was right, reading can get you a good gig! The keyboard
> player with McCartney played the string parts, the trumpet parts and
> all kinds of other things from his hits. He can read; McCartney, who
> was one of the Beatles, does not have to know how to read.
>
> Join Rob P. at my Grand Canyon Harmonica Seminar and demystify this
> stuff; this is not brain surgery and every player can be using the
> chromatic on gigs and doing some reading and not feeling overwhelmed by
> the whole experience.
>
> What's important to know about classical music is it's how you play
> what's in between the notes that counts. Classical players get emotion
> by changing tempi, stretching notes, changing vibrato, tonal color,
> dynamics and phrasing. Remember that some very well known blues players
> will play the same lick over the same changes for 40 years. The great
> ones never do this!
>
> The notes may be written by Mozart, but it's how you play them. A
> good string quartet can sound good playing poor music and a poor string
> quartet does not sound good playing Mozart!!
>
> Harmonically yours,
>
> Robert Bonfiglio
> http://www.robertbonfiglio.com
>
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