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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