Re: [Harp-L] Building better harps - How?

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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/