[Harp-L] learning by riff/lick/position etc

[Blueharp1@xxxxxxx]

Thanks to both Sam and Jason for equally valid and accessible  
(right/left/whole brain?) approaches to the same issue of positional  approach.
Jason mentioned "riff/lick/position type thinking can really short  change an
artist," and Sam said, "I don't agree with you that the  riff/lick/position
thing always short changes the artist." Both are  right of course.
 
Sam refers to the Barrett books, from which I've learned much. I struggled  
though, with Dave Barrett's assertion (or my understanding of it) that one  
should simply avoid the 2 and 3 draw holes in 3rd position. This  really 
handicapped my attempts to plunge wholeheartedly into 3rd position  playing. I 
struggled for a couple of years really, in trying to play things I  instinctively 
knew should work, "somehow".  Jason took me aside for 5  minutes at a gig a year 
ago, and told me that not only is it "okay" to use those  holes, but one of 
the best ways to get fluid in third was to base entire songs  on the frequent 
use of those holes (with the appropriate bends to find the notes  that DO work 
in those holes). That advice, to essentially walk toward and  become 
comfortable and fluid in a difficult area rather than avoiding  it, opened up not only 
my intellectual understanding of 3rd position  playing, but also the creative 
openness to explore freely beyond what I'd  previously accepted as solid 
"shoulds and shouldn'ts. This recalls Jason's  further advice: "It's gonna sound 
strange to you at first, but that's just your  blues mind getting in the way of 
your creativity."
 
Along the same lines, I loved Michael Peloquin's "standing up"  reply to the 
position question, and hear it as good humored encouragement  to widen one's 
perspective, rather than as a glib or dismissive  response, in the spirit of 
the old zen "sound of one hand clapping"  thing. Having met and listened to 
Michael at the Denver SPAH teach-in  this year, I found him to be a deep player, 
generous teacher, and full of  useful tips and insights.
 
I agree with Sam that chromaticism on a short harp is a huge
thing to  learn technique-wise. 
 
But I'm IN this thing to learn, as I think most of are, and that  
break-through moment (ah, again with the One Hand Clapping ~ Eureka!) is  priceless, the 
harp becomes once again a brand new world. Can't beat it. (Well,  you can, but 
only gently, to get the spit out).
 
Sam: "One thing I've learned from teaching this harmonica class is that  what 
feels
really familiar to you is very likely going to be very difficult  for those
less advanced than you..."
Precisely.  Hence the point of going to teachers, encountering  and 
practicing new and perhaps initially alien approaches, etc.
 
Some of us learn and comprehend best via linear progression, some by way of  
hunt and peck, some thru an unspecific Bold of Lightning experience. I suspect 
 we all have benefited from a little of each.
 
I'm entirely with Sam on this part of things: 
 "Some of us people who learn things by ear have really, really  good ears 
and can get
very creative and do some very original playing.   But the right-brained
thing does indeed make it especially hard to bring the  Left side into
things.  Honestly, my first, knee-jerk, gut reaction to  the idea of
practicing a bunch of scales is that of being trapped and not  being able to
open up and move and /rock out' as you say.  I want to go  there but I dread
it at the same time."
 
Me too. But I've begun to realize the value in reaching elsewhere  than what 
seems most natural and familiar to me. The stuff I'm easily drawn  to I can 
already do well without much effort. The stuff I run from, by  saying "its just 
not my nature" is probably the best place I can go, to expand  my world, 
improve my playing, and generally just keep it all more  interesting.
 
Thanks to everyone ~ Sam, Jason, Michael, and all the knowledgeable  and 
ardent contributors to the the list. It's a treasure.
 
Jeff G
Denver CO