How you play and sound in a given playing circumstance is basically a formula of three criteria. 1) What does your audience like to hear? 2) What are your capabilities as a player? 3) What are your personal goals with this specific performance? If 2)is less than 1), you shouldn't be there in the first place. If 1) is less than 2), make sure you want to play there before signing up. In the latter case you might want to do it just for fun or for whatever reason having to do with 3).
Remember that there are millions of people out there who go wild when they hear the occasional harp (many of them are saturated with guitar sounds). Don't be too critical if they respond to "random harmonica" because it might be an easy thing to relate to and, most importantly, they're enjoying themselves.
Then there are thousands of harmonica pros who can master a much higher level of the instrument. To fully appreciate that level you have to have a long harmonica background, either as a player or a listener. And of course these gigs, concerts, battles of harps etc. are a totally different story because the audience is selective and the players are selected.
Harri
Finland
Kenji wrote:
>
> This happened with a friend of mine.
>
> Once, he played harmonica in a small pub, near his house. He was a
> beginner, he has no tecnique, he has never studied harmonica before,
> and people appreciated that.
>
> Then he started to study and he evolved quite fast, so in just one
> year, studying by himself and with some help of other harmonica
> players, he was able to play nice, one note at a time ;-) with a
> powerful vibrato and things like that.
>
> Then he returned to the pub and guess what. People liked, but not as
> much as the first time.
>
> Sometimes, all they want is to hear something like the "random"
> harmonica that harp players hate so much. Unfortunately.