Re: [Harp-L] Building better harps - How?
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- Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Building better harps - How?
- From: "Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2005 13:20:02 -0000
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Vern Smith wrote:
> 1.0 We should agree what "better" means and how to measure it.
> What are the properties of harp performance and their values that
> constitute harp quality? Is "best" for me also "best" for you?
Therein lies the rub! What's best for one person is not going to be
what's best for another. I venture to say that the harmonicas I prefer
(paddy richter tuned, equally tempered, overblow setup Golden Melody
diatonics [and yes, I use them for blues and country, as well as jazz])
wouldn't be "best" for most of the players on this list.
I think it would be nearly impossible to start with an agenda that
requires us to quantify what each and every person prefers from their
harmonica to the point that we can measure and reproduce it with a
mechanical process.
> 5. Our goal should be to make the optimizing of harmonica
> performance a science instead of an art!
I disagree with this goal, although I do not say that I "depend *solely*
on [my] ears" [emphasis added]. However, since the ears are the final
measure of the quality of the work, they need to be considered in the
equation. After all, the tuner, the caliper and the gauge don't hear
the music.
Just because something is not solely a science doesn't mean it can't be
taught. There have been teachers of art for millennia, and it, too, is
a well-developed process.
In my opinion, when the number of variables and variations exceeds what
can be measured and quantified the process transcends science and
becomes art. Certainly some parts of the process are capable of being
engineered for best repeatability and quality assurance, but the best
work is done by artists for artists.
I am in the process of planning a day-long workshop in the Dallas area
to teach a small group of people how to customize and maintain their
own instruments. I believe that this small group emmersion technique
works best at teaching people not how to measure, engineer and
manufacture the best instrument, but how to make their instruments work
best for them.
Artist-turned-engineer-turned-artist,
-tim
Tim Moyer
Working Man's Harps
http://www.workingmansharps.com/
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