Re: [Harp-L] Need encouragement!

[David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I played sax in the school band. Band director said I simply "owned" a saxophone, I was so bad. I had been noodling on the harp since I was five, and I sucked so bad on the sax, I started looking at the harp seriously. I was maybe 15 then. It took me forever to get a single note. This was pre-internet, I had to figure this all out on my own. The Internet should help you advance way faster than I did. 
Anyway, I don't know that I'd get too involved with the U-block, only because later on you're gonna want to use your tongue for other things. It will come in handy for stacatto notes and tongue-block octaves. If you should try simply "puckering" to make your single notes, remember this ---- it does not matter how big the opening to your mouth is when you play. ALL that matters on a clear, single note is how NARROW your mouth is. You can open it as far as you want vertically, what is important is how close it is horizontally. 

I don't know if this is a feel good story or not, but while my band director said I was musically inept, I do fairly well on the harp. I did enter my first contest last year, the Ohio State Harmonica Championship and got third. I have a lot of fun, even got to play harp with one of Bill Monroe's former Bluegrass Boys a few weeks ago (Bill Duncan, played with Monroe in 1957 and 1960). Now, I'm selling and building harmonicas, started doing that commercially last year, doing well enough that I can foresee a time where I will be doing that full-time. 

I'm pretty deeply rooted in church music, you're probably going to be playing mostly melodies. You may want to look at a chromatic. If you remember, or can relearn without having too much trouble, reading music from your trumpet days, you will have a wonderful time on the chromatic and will be able to go off the church's sheet music. I'd say you shouldn't have too much trouble reading music still, and if you played in the military, you must be a very talented musician. I've never seen a military musician who wasn't amazing. 
If I were learning harp and planning to play in church, I'd learn how to play chords on a diatonic and melodies on a chromatic. OR, I'd learn melodies on a chromatic and learn arpeggios on the chromatic as well, cause you'll want to play rhythm. 

Dave
__________________________
Dave Payne Sr. 
Elk River Harmonicas
www.elkriverharmonicas.com