Subject: [Harp-L] plagarism

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

Glenn:  
 
This is a very intriguing premise.  You are a professional  player/author who 
has written books about harmonica players, so presumably you  also know the 
backgrounds of the "well-known" people you listen to, so  understand how they 
came up....learned to play harp...who were their  heroes.
 
   But the thought struck me that if and when I ever learn to  play Blues 
harp on a diatonic (I'm primarily a chromatic player at this point),  I would be 
learning from the many books/CD's/DVD's/VHS tapes I've bought  (including 
yours, btw) ....learning particular ways to play from the  several seminars I've 
attended...and picking up some "licks" from the very many  Blues players I've 
had the good fortune to hear. 
 
Realizing too that before joining Harp-L in 2004 and going to my first  
Buckeye in Spring 2005, I had absolutely no contact with a single harmonica  player 
in my life and was away from playing (even the chromatic) for very many  
years, what if I took all this new musical inundation that has now been poured  
into my ears, became good at it, and "somehow" became "well-known" (let me  
explain first that the likelihood of this actually occurring is about on a par  
with my being elected the first woman President of the United States<G>),  but 
we're merely suppositioning for purposes of this exercise.......
 
...How then would I, who knew nothing of Little Walter and Sonny Boy  II 
other than that they were among the earlier players so revered by many  long-time 
Blues players..know or possibly recognize just what musical  phrases  stemmed 
from them, or came from the various teachers/instructors  who had taught me to 
play?  
 
Frankly, the thought HAS crossed my mind before this, though not about  
plagiarism...more along the idea of just how can a person become innovative and  
original, when they're learning Blues by playing the same old licks and  
phrases, precisely because THOSE are the licks and phases that make up the Blues  
they all love so much?  
 
It's a double-edged sword.  People work so hard at nailing a  particular 
musical "phrase".....it could take them months or even years.   Do you really 
think they're thinking by the time they have it  "nailed"...that they're 
plagiarizing it from a harmonica player who passed on  years ago?  I can't fathom that.
 
 If it was an entire specific song...of course that's  
plagiarism...especially if the song is copyrighted...that topic has been  discussed here before, but 
I'm wondering how just some notes strung together in  a particular way could 
be so linked to one player, no one else should ever be  able to use them?
 
You've got me....I'd sure be interested in other folks' thoughts.
 
Elizabeth



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