Re: Subject: [Harp-L] The Magician, not the Wand

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Agreed to all that. Sorry for any confusion; I do re-read, more & more
these days, to see that I'm being unambiguous. I would have overlooked
the possibility of anyone thinking "fabulous chromatic players,
including yourself!" referred to me because of the impossibility of such
an idea entering my head. My chrom. is still on the runway without
achieving liftoff, which, as implicitly noted elsewhere, no doubt
colours my attitude.
Regards,
RD

>>> <EGS1217@xxxxxxx> 28/09/2007 13:00 >>>
Rick writes:
 
"By the way, just scrolling through my emails while I let this  one
'cool' (don't like to send without a pause for reflection - 
especially
if I think I might be upsetting anyone) I see this from regular 
poster
Elizabeth (hope you don't mind the quote, Elizabeth): "the 'norm' is 
for

feeling and emotion.....just look at SmoJoe's YouTube videos (among 
so
many  
other fabulous chromatic players, including yourself!) and  not the
oldstyle  'mechanical' style of playing"
Anyway, to quote  from an old gospel record: "Now I wasn't talking
about
anybody, I was just  singing my song"
Regards,
RD

..oh, not at all, Rick...just as long as you quote me
accurately....which  
would be making it clear my post wasn't addressed to you, but to Chris
'Hammer'  
Smith, so the "yourself" was about HIS fabulous chromatic playing  ;)  
It'd 
certainly be worth your while to check out his  myspace link...that
piece of 
music I mentioned is really gorgeous (and  beautifully played by Chris
and his 
band).
 
 It'd probably have been better to have included my entire quote: 
"Chris:  
Couldn't agree more...among today's chromatic players, the  'norm' is
for 
feeling and emotion.....just look at SmoJoe's YouTube videos  (among so
many other 
fabulous chromatic players, including yourself!) and not  the oldstyle

'mechanical' style of playing, and it truly is dependent on  who's
behind the axe. 
Actually you prove that with your playing of  "Pass the Test of
Time"...a 
gorgeously played chromatic piece of music on your  own MySpace page. 
Beautiful! "
 
Rick you've made it seem as though my post was written as an "upset" 
with 
you. Not so, if that's how you took it.  It was written  directly to
Chris 
merely in agreement with his take on the matter, and I want to  clear
that up, 
since my original post sent in at 7p.m. NY time hasn't  yet made it
onto Harp-L. 
 
 I'm quite in agreement with Winslow too in this area...the idea of a 

chromatic as a machine is an old (and kind of tired (to my mind)) 
perception, and 
actually those players who still might play mechanically  are nowadays
the 
exceptions to the rule, if all the players I've been  fortunate enough
to be 
exposed to for the last few years are any example.   Though I do agree
that there 
are some who might tend to hold onto the "old ways"  of doing things
(just as 
there are in the diatonic world), they aren't in the  majority of those
putting 
their music out for the public to hear.  
 
Stevie Wonder is a step above, and plays his chromatic in  a
particularly 
expressive voice than most other chromatic players, but  because he
does play the 
instrument in such an innovative and  unique style, doesn't mean other

chromatic players of today aren't expressive  and 'speaking/singing'
through their 
instruments as well.  We can't  all 'speak' the same language.
 
When I began playing harmonica at age 4, I didn't know there was such a
 
thing as a difference between diatonics and chromatics. They were all 

mouth-organs (in Scotland, anyway).  I only learned/heard about the
huge  cultural divide 
after joining Harp-l in 2004, later Slidemeister...and  would have been

blissfully unaware that some see them as different instruments 
altogether had I 
not joined this community.  I own both, play both and also  some Echos.
 They're 
all harmonicas, as are Bass and Chord  harmonicas.  What really is the

difference? As Chris says:  it's  not the axe, but all in what you do
with it. 
 
I quite agree that Stevie does wonders with the particular one he uses.
 Just 
singing my song too. <G> 
 
Elizabeth



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