[Harp-L] Re: Re: Re: Re: Spect: Just a little bit (Was "Train Time")

["Bob Laughlin" <rlaughlin@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think what we're talking about here perhaps is the average harmonica
players expectation of what is considered to be "normal" in terms of
learning ability. In retrospect, I really don't think there IS any such
thing as "normal", unless one defines what is to be considered "normal", and
states it to be so, as a guideline for the rest of us, all exceptions to the
rule. I mean, who can consider themselves as "the average joe" (unless, of
course, one is named "joe", and is, of course, "average"). I, for one,
believe that all of us are straight up miracles, and unique, in the sense of
there only being "one" of each of us. I don't put a lot of stock in each of
us merely being a "statistic", but rather, unique individuals with unique
opportunities and unique sets of circumstances. But that's just me. That's
who I am.

I think, in this universe, or even this sub-set of the known universe, the
harmonica sub-set to be specific, that there is the great possibility that
one may have learned, yea even "mastered" (though this was not the claim)
"Train Time" in its "entirety" over the course of a week. I know that when I
was a youth I was such an introvert, and so socially challenged (read:
unencumbered with the potentially distracting elements of a rich social
environment) as to merit the gift of musical talent on almost any instrument
I took an interest to. Once I began a musical quest, I simply continued
undistracted until I had reached that level of success that was most
rewarding to me. One might say that when I stroked an instrument, I kept on
stroking, until satisfaction was achieved. So,,in terms of "Train Time",
satisfaction may, perhaps, equate to having "learned" this piece "in its
entirety". (I do hope this adds to the present discussion on the symbolistic
views of harmonica as a sexual object.) Anyway,,I digress.

I, for one, believe that we all are highly unique, and wish to be discovered
as such, even when making attempts to emulate those we respect. I also hope
always to be not only an exception to the rule, but also someone who is able
to follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before, to some extent,
showing due respect and admiration for the skills and dedication those who
led the way have shown, in the harp-dom. However, as much as I do admire
those who presently and in the past have played harp so well as to cause me
to want to emulate them, there are limits to just how closely I care to
follow, for fear of losing my own brand of individuality, uniqueness, and
taste. I, for instance, don't care as much as others to learn some of the
more bandied about techniques as "the best cupping", or "____-blocking". I
have a LOT of fun playing harp just the way I presently do (seemingly quite
opposite to the way many others have learned, as I use a quite unique
method, known only to myself, which I may describe by using a personally
coined term, "toe-blocking", simultaneously reaching around my head with
both arms, holding the harmonica alternately in one or the other armpit,
creating a most mellow and tasty tone through the natural cavities thereof,
while sitting in the Yoga position known as the "curly kielbasa", blocking
unwanted holes with various toes), and have quite enough praise coming my
way to satisfy any need to feel appreciated as a harp player. Maybe there's
a "harp-vacuum" in my area, but I turn heads and get compliments on my own
playing, in spite of my not blocking like so-and-so, or cupping like this
guy or that. I think I have enough idiosyncracies in my playing to set me
apart simply because of my efficient and skillful use of rhythms, tempo not
being the decisive factor in my opinion, short of being IN tempo with the
rest of the band. It's a groove thang, baby, and when you're in it, you're
in it.. I look at most instruments as basically percussive, with tonality
thown in as a plus. I'm a confessed beater, with melody added alongside as
information is added to the carrier wave in radio science through
modulation.

The techniques I have learned in practicing harp came to me naturally, not
through a kind of "mold" based on others performances, and I simply do not
care to "sound just like so-and-so", but rather, to sound like myself, thank
you. Perhaps one may ask, when the first harmonicas came into the posession
of some share cropper or whoever it was that could lay claim to having first
"played the blues", who taught them to hold the harp? block? Aren't there
various schools for each facet of "harp discipline"? I mean, nothing here is
dogma. My karma ran over your dogma, ma.

As you can see,,I'll not soon be signing up for harp classes, though "I like
to watch". Sooner, I'd invite a maintenance and repair class into my busy
schedule. I'm simply not interested in someone showing me the "proper way"
to hold, or play, the harp, which I consider to be my personal and intimate
friend. My relationship with my harp is much too intimate for that, my
friend.

Having said all of that, some of it "tongue" or perhaps "harp"-in-cheek, I
quickly have to admit that I do so appreciate the existence of the "-l" in
my daily reading, so as to always help to keep me "in the groove" when I'm
falling out. I find that striving for "the tone" is contagious, infectious,
and motivating. The community here is rich with example, and ought to be the
starting place for any new harp newbie, if only to see, hear, and understand
how others are "doing it", in the quest for one's own experience.

Harp till the cows come home.

Bob


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <mjmeadors@xxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, February 03, 2007 7:27 AM
Subject: Re: Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Train Time tab by CREAM... does it
exist???Please Help!!!


>
> Elizabeth:
>
> Thanks for your thoughts.  However, I think was I was reacting to was my
perception of the writer's clear bragging on himself and name dropping.  If
you listen to the song (which I hope you'll do someday), you'll see what I
was talking about, in that, it is not something that someone with just a
"good ear" will be able to pick up and play in a week, never having played
harmonica before.
>
> However, as to why such a thing would bother me, I don't know.  Maybe it
is a weakness in my own personality.
>
> You're right, he didn't say he mastered it.  He just said he learned it
"in its entireity".  That, to me, however, means you've learned, at least,
all the breaks and changes and accents from top to bottom.  It's a
complicated 8 minute harmonica and drum piece.  If I say I've learned
something in its entireity, I don't mean I just know what key the thing is
in.  I mean I can play it dead on, very, very close to the original.  Maybe
Doug's wording just threw me off and he meant something else.
>
> Also, I guess I just have the greatest respect for the real thing, and
when I hear people (so often) make uninformed claims or put it out there
that the real thing was something very simple to achieve, to me, they demean
the artist or the piece and the effort it took the artist to develop that
talent.  Take, for example, Sonny Terry.  There are plenty of people who
think they have his thing down, but they are missing the nuances and the
back rhythms, etc.  It's like someone saying, "oh, Sonny Terry, hell, man, I
figured his stuff out in two weeks!"  Or someone saying about Jason Ricci,
"geez, he just plays a bunch of fast notes, I can do that, what's the big
deal?"  Why that bothers me, I don't know, but it does.
>
> All in all, Elizabeth from Scotland, I'm probably an ass for even bringing
this whole thing up.  I admit that.  I'll take the blame and apologize.
Doug, you and me all share a love of the harp and we should always stick
together and not attack each other.
>
> However, if, as you describe yourself, you were a piano prodigy at 4,
maybe you and Doug should form a duo.  :)  Again, I'm being confrontational,
so I'll just sign off and stop rambling and go learn Traintime in its
entireity.  See you in a few months or more.
>
> Best wishes -- (I mean that, not being sarcastic)
>
> Mike
> Gainesville
>
>
>
>
>
> Mike writes:
>
> "You mastered Traintime in a week as a rank beginner?  My guess  is that
you,
> at least at that time, didn't know anything about playing  harp and like
many
> before you (including myself), only THOUGHT you were  playing the licks
> correctly.  As you may know now, the more you play  and learn, the more
you
> recognize critical nuances that set apart the  great players from the
hackers,
> and
> you realize that what you were playing  previously WASN'T that wonderful
as you
> thought at the time.
>
> Traintime depends not just on the chug-a-chug rhythm, but on many,  many
> accents shared with the drummer and the dynamics of the song.   THAT'S the
song
> -- 
> the two instruments.  Just doing the chug-a-chug  and the big draw bend on
3
> and 4 isn't mastering the song.  It's like  sayiing that because you know
a
> few words in Spanish, you can speak the  language.  If you sounded like
Jack
> Bruce in a week, I hope you  became a professional harp player and wrote a
book
> for the rest of us for  whom learning such licks in their entireity might
take
> more than one  week.  I'm not trying to be hostile or confrontational, but
> your  comment just struck me in a weird way.
>
> Mike
> Gainesville
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:  mjmeadors@xxxxxxx
> To: Harpburns@xxxxxxx
> Sent: Fri, 2 Feb 2007 5:16  AM
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Train Time tab by CREAM... does it exist???  Please
> Help!!!
>
>
> "Wow, this thread brings back some  memories. Train Time is the first song
I
> learned on the harp. It was  1971. I bought a harp from a friend for 5
bucks
> my
> senior year in high  school. I saw him a week later and had learned the
song
> in
> it's  entirety. By the end of the school year I jammed with Barry Melton
and
> the Fish on a cruise of SF Bay for senior grad  night.
> Doug"
>
> ....I just reread the post to which you reacted, Mike...and nowhere  does
> Doug claimed to have "mastered" the song.  He said he had  learned to play
it in
>
> a week.  He then went on to say that by the end  of his school year...he
was
> jamming with friends.  I honestly don't  see why that would bother you so
much?
>  I'm certainly no great harp  player, yet can hear a song and many times
be
> able to play it in a day,  let alone a week...sometimes the first time
out, and
> sometimes pretty darn  well...just as I did the age of 4 (that's right,
> FOUR)..when I played  Scotland the Brave (I'm Scots and was living there
at the
>
> time) in it's entirety on my very first Harmonica, before I'd even  left
the
> store.  Then I played every song that I knew (in my limited  4-year old
> capacity,
> of course).
>
>  I was able to do the same thing on a piano as well, the very  first time
I
> sat down at one.   Didn't know the keyboard,  had no lessons, but was able
to
> play tunes first time out.....some folks  are born with an "ear" for
music.
> That doesn't mean they've  "mastered" all the nuances, the licks...the way
the
> songs were played  by their original artists....and I don't believe he
claimed
> he  did either.  His post was merely about his excitement  over the song
and
> rather innocuous on the face of it, so your reaction  seems a bit over the
top.
>  Didn't Winslow  respond to the  original query by explaining that it
would
> make better sense to sit  down and practice learning this particular song
(one
> I don't  know) from listening to it, rather than trying to tab it out?
Seems
> that's what Doug did.  Maybe he was an  exceptionally fast learner as a
> teenager?  Maybe I'm misreading  why you're upset.  It did read as
possibly
> "hostile and  confrontational", but maybe Doug didn't take it that way,
and it's
> not
> my place to interpret it as such.  Just my .02 cents and  IMHO (for the
> record).   :)
>
> Elizabeth
>
>
>
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