Re: [Harp-L] Real creativity



Ansel, YOU are the one to turn to for all of the freshness and creativity that you demand. No one else will ever satisfy your thirst for newness. However, don't expect that many others will share that much hunger for new material. Material that is new as the harmonica meets the player's lips is unlikely to be memorable.

Your definition of musical "creativity" is different from mine. You seem to define it as the ability to improvise something pleasant for the instant occasion.. I define it as the ability to craft something of lasting appeal. You seem to be thinking of the creativity of the performer while I think of the creativity of the composer.

You may overlook the fact that the audiences often demand that that the older performers replay their past triumphs. They like to recall pleasant old associations. Very often, when the old performers try something new, the audience is disappointed that they cannot come up with something as good as they did when thay were at the peak of their inspiration and powers of composition. With maybe a very few exceptions such as Bach and Mozart, the muse doesn't speak to the composer continuously or with equal strength through the years. Many of us still wait for that first inspiration.

You may also overlook that repetition is at the very core of music. A theme such as the ...- of Beethoven's fifth occurs over and over with the newness appearing in variations. Nor does that lessen our pleasure in hearing that same symphony many times. Almost every good song introduces a new theme, then repeats it, sometimes with variations. And if the song is really good, we like to hear it many times...otherwise recorded music would not be so popular. Audiences crave the familiar. The clever artist can deliver it with enough of a new twist to make it interesting again, but not so much as to spoil it's old charm.

The jazz musician comes closest to playing something fresh every time the harp meets his lips, but it may appeal mainly to jazz buffs. Are you one of them?

Vern
Visit my harmonica website www.Hands-Free-Chromatic.7p.com



----- Original Message ----- From: "Barnum, Ansel (Ansel)" <Ansel.Barnum@xxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2007 8:54 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Real creativity




Recently I'm beginning to become disillusioned with my childhood harp heroes. Last night I heard one of them in concert which was admittedly a great show. However, it was the same one I'd heard last year, the year before, and so on going back to when I first heard them ten years ago. And that seems to be the trend amongst most in my harp pantheon. Yes, they conceived of great music at one point in time, but they don't continue to do so, instead replaying the great ideas they (or someone else) thought of in the past. And even those that do periodically come up with new material on a CD just rehash it like a jukebox in concert.


So my question is: Where is the *real* creativity? Who are the musicians that play something fresh every time a harp meets their lips? I certainly appreciate that the diatonic harp and blues form imposes constraints that chromatic jazz players do not face. Which is why I'm searching for those geniuses able to break through these barriers to that zen state of art. Who can I turn to for inspiration of exciting, dynamic, creative music that continuously flows into the instrument--in this case, a diatonic harp?


Ansel


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