[Harp-L] SPAH part 2 The Seminars

[Michael Rubin <rubinmichael@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I caught a little of the tongue switching seminar and was again amazed with James Conway's takes.  I also have heard both Winslow and Stan Harper's ideas at previous SPAH's which were very helpful.  
   
  The blues seminar was cool.  Listening to the ideas on swing being sometimes ahead of the beat was interesting to me.   It seems like most instructors give a basic summary of the concert and say "you've got to feel it, man"  which sadly is all I can do on this subject.  When my teachers say this, I say "If I could feel it, I wouldn't be coming to YOU!"  I want to solidify my ability to explain swing.  Any suggestions?  I would like to see a book supplemented by audio that times out swing rhythms.  
   
  The chromatic harp/diatonic harp crossover was cool.  I was dissapointed that it conflicted for a half an hour with the playing diatonic harp chromatically seminar.  I was teaching the latter and I felt that most people who went to one would be interested in the other.  Turnout was fine for both, though.  I was impressed by how low they could bend their chromes, but felt they repeatedly spoke about that one idea and could have touched on other parts of the similarities between the two harps more.  Of course, I missed the last half hour.
   
  I saw a tiny bit of the fiddle seminar, great playing!
   
  I went to daily seminars by Elmer Matila on bass harp and thought he did a great job.  It was for absolute beginners so I didd not pick up too much, but every little bit helps.  I will say however that whenever that Minnesota native pronounced root as "rut" it stopped my brain and took a jumpstart before I could listen further.
   
  The Joe Filsko teach ins were great.  I took from Allen Holmes, who is my favorite harp teacher,  and was pleasantly surprised that his jazz ideas made more sense to me than ever before.  I have been taking jazz lessons from a 21 year old guitarist who goes to Berklee Music School.  I've only taken around 4 lessons, but so much of what Alan said felt familiar.  I would not say that it is solidified yet, but it is coming together.
   
  I also took a replacing reed lesson from Jimmy Gordon.  I wrote down everything I could, but I think with machinery you need to tell me something, I need to write it down, repeat it back to you, do that first step ten times with supervision and then be taught the next step.  I don't know if I will ever get past gapping reeds.  I got rupert's video, so we'll see.
   
  I listened a bit to Dennis and Michael P.  I sat with George Brooks and battled over the importance of pitch matching to the extreme.  For the record, I am for it, but not as hard core as he is.  I believe ear training and the ability to assess which type of music requires high level of pitch control is important.  Then one can listen to the rhythm player and match with HIS chords, which will most likely be slighty off tune.  Anyway, George told me how he improves his pitch, all of which I do, with the exception of using a stobe tuner.  
   
  I taught a Welcome to SPAH, here's how to get the most out of it and survive the blues jam seminar, shared with Randy SInger a diatonic played chromatically seminar and a chromatic blues seminar.  I also led the pre jams, where we helped players with strategies for surviving the blues jam.  I felt good about everything.  I would love to hear opinions on how I did, offlist or on.
   
  More to come!
  Michael Rubin
  Michaelrubinharmonica.com