Re: [Harp-L] Re: Alfred Hirsch

["Chesper Nevins" <chespernevins@xxxxxxxxx>]

While I don't really disagree with you here Jaz, I feel like "sticking
up for" Alfred here - but this is all my opinion from hearing Alfred's
music - I don't know him well and don't know if he would agree with
this.

IMO, Alfred is what I would call "a stylist".

There is a difference between a stylist and a musician for all genres,
who can slip into any genre of music like a chameleon.

I think a recognizable style is a really valuable thing, even though
its value may be harder to prove to all by some concrete standard.

A style may be defined by what one does *not* do as much as what one
*does*.  Alfred's job may never be to demonstrate *all* the limits of
the dimi harp in ways that the  community as a whole may be curious
about.

Whether his tunes are one's cup of tea or not, he marches by the beat
of his own drum, and he has found in the dimi harp a vehicle for that.
And that is very cool in my mind.

>  It's hard to assess his diatonic
> diminished harp when all he's playing are originals.

I would think that you ARE hearing his dimi harp when he's playing his
originals.  His style is perhaps more well represented in his
originals than by him playing a standard.

(Or I could be wrong...maybe he is extremely fluent on standards and
just chooses to release only originals, which is an interesting idea
in itself...).

===

In my experience on the dimi harp, chords are somewhat less practical
than on a more diatonic tuning.  Multiple notes can be used of course,
but every chord that is more than two notes is a dimi chord, and that
has limits.  The dimi is most practical for single note playing, IMO.

CN aka Jason

On 7/6/07, jazmaan@xxxxxxxxxxx <dmf273@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I listened to the Alfred Hirsch tracks on Myspace.   They sound pretty good, but I would like to
> hear him play a standard or something with a known melody.  It's hard to assess his diatonic
> diminished harp when all he's playing are originals.   Maybe I should search harder, but that
> Myspace player only had 4 originals.   Also I didn't hear any chordal play - seemed like it was
> all single note playing.
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