Re: Subject: Re: [Harp-L] playing sitting down (practicing)
Hey Brad:
The folding chair with all of your paraphernalia within close reach is a
great idea (and completely logical) for you. Of course, you're a 'professional
musician', while I'm a mere amateur with what's been an overwhelming case of
stage fright...which I did overcome just a wee bit at this past Spah (on the
last day at open mic) and yesterday at a family gathering in Maryland (down
visiting from NY)...playing over my IPod/Sonic Impact mini speaker
system...for my older sister's family and a group of 30-somethings, who were uniformly
(and for the first time): 'blown away' by the fact that I could actually play
music, surrounding me with requests and questions. Played a lot of the music
they liked: Sade, Simply Red,Eva Cassidy, The Eagles, Bob Seger, Ray
Charles, etc...whatever was in my IPod they could relate to....this was a big
breakthrough for me..and, I was sitting down the entire time :)
I'm tall like you..I understand what your friend and your band meant. The
overall 'look' of the band is balanced because sitting down you're probably
almost the same height as the rest of them, so it makes for a less jarring
contrast. Besides, guitar players have always looked cool sitting...even Rock
guitarists..especially guitarists who also play harp (in a rack) or merely
switching off. The fact that you're blind and your bandmates prefer you in a chair
might also be self-preservation on their part! Just the thought of this
great tall man banging about on stage with a lethal weapon (no, not the
'death-ray emitting' harp this time...the guitar - hah!) - might make them prefer to
keep you grounded in one place so they can move about without worrying about
them or you tripping over cables and such, lol. It works for you and the
band..it's all good. :)
Jeff Healey (also blind) always played sitting down with his guitar played
flat on his lap....and could sure create enough 'energy' to light up a
stadium. I've always liked guitarists sitting down facing the audience too..it's
more 'intimate', somehow...connects them to the audience.
My 'energy' comment was purely for me..I'm only now discovering what I can
do...having come back to playing harmonica after a lifetime away...focused on
piano and keyboards (intermittently) during that time. More often, the music
stayed in my head since I didn't even have a piano at home.
Thinking about the sitting vs/standing discussion: part of what makes it an
issue for me might be because I was found to have a very large hiatal hernia a
year or so ago. For anyone who doesn't know what that is...it pushes up very
high into the upper abdomen...and in my case I have a strong feeling is the
reason I've had a difficult time 'feeling I'm getting enough air'...so
perhaps standing helps me simply inflate my lungs better. It's a rational enough
explanation anyway, since my tallness is all in my legs so sitting down I'm a
short person, LOL...ain't much room for me to breathe otherwise. ;)
Elizabeth
In a message dated 9/1/2008 8:14:36 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
bradford.trainham@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
I've always preferred to sit when I play... even guitar.. and even when I'm
doing "lead singing" for a rock band.
Some of it might be the lack of eye-sight; that is, I might just be more
easily oriented in a chair, but my favorite performing arrangement is a folding
chair such that I can position everything around me I need to have and I
apparently do well enough with the energy that the rock band I sing for has never
complained about me sitting.
A friend of mine told me that it doesn't look as odd, or that I'm not as
distinct from the others who stand because I'm tall. That probably makes more
sense to most of you than it did to me.
But no, I don't perform in a rocking chair, just practice the harp.
Brad Trainham
____________________________________
From: EGS1217@xxxxxxx [mailto:EGS1217@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, September 01, 2008 6:56 PM
To: rhhammersley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: bradford.trainham@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Subject: Re: [Harp-L] playing sitting down (practicing)
Hi Richard:
I'm far from being a 'pro'..and I play chromatics for the most part...but I
have to agree. While I do 'play' and practice a lot sitting down (mainly
necessitated by being at my computer when a song/instrumental comes on the
computer radio I want to try)...when I do finally 'play' for real....i.e. want to
try out a song in its entirety or 'show my real stuff' to anyone else (SmoJoe
at this past Spah for instance...in order to figure out what songs to pick
to play together at Open Mic)..I absolutely have to stand up for that; to get
the full feeling of air in my lungs, and to be able to move around (I tend to
'dance' a bit to the music when I play, really can't imagine standing
still..'planted' in place, as it were).
But then...at Spah Blues Jams...and Buckeye (where I witnessed my first
jam): the normal set up is a big circle of chairs with mostly guys playing
mostly diatonics seemingly very comfortably (although the one Jazz chromatic
player who joined in the last night, Charles Spranklin...remained standing for his
turn). Occasionally one will get up in the circle to play...clearly one of
those like you (and me)...but most players seem to have the ability to
produce everything they can do sitting down...and I've been quite envious of that
ability. The sitting circles do enhance the feeling of warm camaraderie (no
one person is ever 'The Star' in the blues jams..and it's lovely).
I will say the Jazz jams are usually 'stand-up' in front of a backing
trio...and the jazz players (whom I emulate) tend to play standing more often
than not even in their smaller groupings, sitting only when they're tired, run
out of steam,or in a constrained area.
It just gives me more energy, ability to use more 'body english' to play
standing up, somehow. This is a topic I've remarked on before and found very
interesting. Appreciate your broaching the subject.
Elizabeth
P.S. Aside to Brad Trainham: I do believe you're right: pulmonary health
is a heckuva lot more important than a 10 pound weight gain...but then, most
women reading your post would probably agree that 10 pounds is nothin'...when
you start talking 'real' weight .. 30 - 40 lbs, then get back to me ;)
"Message: 4
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2008 20:30:21 +0100
From: Richard Hammersley <rhhammersley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] playing sitting down (practicing)
To: Harp-l L <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID: <30F59EE6-EA21-433F-88D2-B98C39A0A074@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
This reminds me
I was looking at SPAH videos on youtube. Folk are often sitting down.
Now I can play sitting down, but it is not easy to get the best
breath, tone or technique that way - someone mentioned opera singers a
while back, you don't see much singing seated. I try and practice
standing up - any views anyone?
Richard
On 1 Sep 2008, at 19:18, Bradford Trainham wrote:
> For me, practice is a combination of the things I already know how
> to do and
> a deliberate stretch to learn the newer things or to get the newer
> stuff
> down better.
> I don't know why, but I usually start off practicing by picking up
> my Marine
> Band 365, a lovable 14-hole harp with the air of the ungainly about
> it.
> I'll usually open up with some hybrid of the licks that would
> support the
> Band's version of Long Black Veil and the old Little Feat instrumental
> Lafayette Railroad. Even though the second song isn't in G and I'm
> playing
> of necessity on that harp in G, I love being able to milk those
> bends up to
> the major third on the draw three.
> After I've done that a while, I break a sweat and then, it's time to
> pick up
> the Special 20's for the real practice.
> For some reason, then, those Special 20's seem so responsive, so
> reactive
> that the new stuff feels possible/doable.
> The bad side of my practice routine... Is that all my prize harps
> sit on a
> shelf next to an old rocking chair which my ex-wife inexplicably
> agreed to
> let me have.
> I found out two days ago.. .that I've gained ten pounds somewhere in
> the
> past six to seven months, a span of time which tellingly coincides
> with the
> evolution of this, my practice routine.
> Okay, so if I'm not exercising like I should, at least, that Marine
> Band 365
> is giving me a bit of a pulmonary workout, right?
> Brad Trainham
>
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