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

[Zvi Aranoff <zaranoff@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Irving Kolodin of the 'Saturday Review' (cited in Kim Field's  
"Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy Breathers" p. 82) once reviewed Larry  
Adler's performance, and wrote the following:

"The best way to listen to the harmonica ... is to close the eyes and  
disassociate the sight from the sound. In the round, with Adler  
teetering on tiptoes to reach a reluctant reed, opening and closing  
his cupped hands to approximate the swell box of the organ, throwing  
in body English where all other resources failed, it seemed too much  
a losing battle for any reasonable enjoyment."

:D

Zvi



On Jun 2, 2007, at 12:27 PM, Winslow Yerxa wrote:

> It's true, watching a harmonica player just holding and playing the
> instrument is like watching someone who has bitten into a sandwich and
> then forgotten to chew.
>
> But try watching some video of Sonny Terry. Even though blind, he  
> had a
> well-developed sense of the theater of using his hands and his full
> arms for dramatic effect.
>
> In a different way, so did Larry Adler. Caricatures of him always
> played up the activity of his hand and especially his fingers.
>
> Dramatic use of hands, along with such actions as switching harps in
> the middle of a lick, and just general dynamic interaction with the
> audience, can make watching a harmonica player quite interesting to a
> non-harmonica playing audience.
>
> Winslow
>
> --- Marc Molino <mmolino54@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > 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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