Re: [Harp-L] Irish/celtic harmonica

["james conway" <harp3333@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Winslow suggested not to limit yourself to listening to just harmonica 
players when you're learning tunes. That's good advice. For myself, I 
learned a lot from listening to players of the concertina which is an 
instrument very similar to ours. One recording in particular is Mary 
MacNamara's, Traditional Music from East Clare. (www.marymacnamara.com)
As far as good Irish harp CD's....Xavier Laune from the French group Distant 
Shores has just put out his second CD, Sunny School Street, which is very 
good with a lot of nice Irish harp playing. Xavier and his band are staying 
with me here in Chicago this week and we're having a helluva time! You can 
check them out at: http://jefperroy.free.fr/DistantShores_accueil.htm

cheers,
James
www.thesprigs.com

> From: "Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re:  [Harp-L] Irish/celtic harmonica
> Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 17:18:18 -0000
>
> --- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Blunt White" <playharp@xxxx>
> wrote:
>
> I am looking for suggestions on CD's to purchase so I can learn some
> irish tunes.  Been playing blues for over 30 years and looking for a
> new direction.  I have checked out Brendan Power's site.  Not sure
> which CD to purchase.  I need an easy one to start with.  Any
> celtic/irish style harp players have a suggestion?
>
> ==========Winslow says:
>
> I made a similar transition and found a very steep learning curve, in
> that the tunes do unfamiliar things with chords and note sequences
> and do it all at a speed that in the blues only occurs in short
> bursts and sometimes not at all.
>
> Listening to CDs by artists like Brendan Power, James Conway, Tony
> Eyers, Donald Black, and others will be very inspirational but may
> present some obstacles for someone starting out on this path:
>
> 1) the tunes go by very fast
>
> 2) the note sequences - the kinds of licks used, if you will - will
> be unfamiliar
>
> 3) Some of these players (Brendan, Tony) use special alternate
> tunings.
>
> Some suggestions:
>
> Get Brendan's beginner book/harmonica combo. There may be a CD with
> it. There's maybe a dozen tunes in it - not an overwhelming number.
> Brendan is a guy who has been there, done that and gotten excellent
> results and his advice is golden.
>
> Lurk on some of the lists devoted to celtic, ITM (Irish Traditional
> music), bluegrass, etc. and ask about (relatively) easy beginner
> tunes. Most of these can be found on the web for free in notation and
> MIDI format and some even in Band-in-a-Box format (BIAB generates
> automatic accompaniment in the key, tempo, and style you dictate).
>
> Many players of celtic tunes, fiddle tunes, etc., learn tunes at a
> slow tempo first, then speed them up. This is useful when practicing
> alone, but there are also sessions where people do this together. If
> there is an Irish pub, fiddle club, or any other way that people in
> your area gather to share these kinds of tunes, there may also be a
> regular "slow session" where people get together for the express
> purpose of working on playing tunes at a slow tempo. Get the tune
> under your belt slow and you then have a basis for speeding it up.
>
> Don't limit your self to harmonica players in your listening for
> tunes and interpretation. They're relatively few in number in trad
> genres while there are a lot of fiddlers, accordionists, and
> whistle/flute players. You can learn from all of them, just like most
> good blues harmonica players listen and learn from guitar and
> saxophone in addition to harmonica.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Winslow
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l