[Harp-L] does the (dis)appearance of the harp hurt its popularity?

["Marc Molino" <mmolino54@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've been thinking that listening to harmonica is wonderful, but watching it 
being played is not so fun. From an audience perspective, usually the 
diatonica harmonica is mostly obscured by the hands of the player, which 
makes for a kind of awkward performance (turn off the sound on any harmonica 
video and it looks like some one is gagging or coughing while covering their 
mouth). In rare instances, either the player's own dancing or use of hands 
seems to add to the non-acoustic part of the performance or some very nice 
film & editing help. Watching Sonny Boy (II) is pretty entertaining (to me 
at least): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFRMBWgyH-M
I also like the way this JJ Milteau video was shot: 
http://jjmilteau.artistes.universalmusic.fr/ (click on the little video 
camera icon on the right).

But what I'm noticing about these examples is that they are very close up so 
you can see what's going on. In Sonny Boy's case, he is also singing, which 
makes for a little more variety. Most video is either shot much farther away 
or if you're there live, you're not that close. Chromatic harp performances 
seem more interesting visually to me simply because you can usually see the 
harp itself. I'm not necessarily arguing for making the instrument more 
appealing or popular, but I'm wondering what others think of how not being 
able to see the instrument impacts its appeal and/or how the audience 
perceives it.

-Marc Molino

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