[Harp-L] re: I don't want to be a harp player

[diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Whoo, was I surprised when I opened my mail this morning to see lots of offlist 
replies.

All good and supportive.  I didn't realize there were so many of you on the same 
path I'm walking but kept quiet about it until now. 

 There are enough musicians, including harp musicians, in my area now that if 
someone
needs a background player they know who to go to, if they need a country type 
player there is a guy for that,
one that plays horn lines and is good with funk bands.   Plenty of traditional 
blues harp players that are working toward finding their sound. 

   I think the audience and some musicians  recognize and respect  individuality 
in sound and  that is refreshing to them. I won't go into detail on the recent 
compliments, but I didn't get them as often when playing in someone else style.

 I told a few of my local harp buddies that I'm not worried about one or two bad 
notes in a performance because I'm pushing to find new ideas, not rehash old 
solos.  You need to make mistakes to learn from them. 

It would be cool if each of us could take another local musician to a harp fest 
when we can attend. It would open a lot of eyes to
where we are trying to take the instrument and what can be done if other 
musicians can think of us outside the box. 

What excites me is when I heard a musician play a great solo and I no longer hear the instrument but just the beauty and intensity of the human soul coming though.     

mike