Subject: Re: [Harp-L] questions about high keyed harps/Also SPAH
I should have responded to this thread before, but was unable to for various
reasons...
I understand about the 'family' connection of some of the songs (many of
which I don't know either)...although of course I do know the more basic
well-known 'Oh Susannah', Comin' Round the Mountain, When the Saints, This Train,
etc. What I found interesting each time I've gone to Buckeye was the vast
number of songs I simply found unrecognizable which every other harmonica player
seemed to know (chromatic and diatonic), and eventually came to think of as
'regional' music from the mid-west. Perhaps it's my non-American
background..having my musical education begin only with 1960's New York R&B and Pop music
on....
...actually, that's what I intended by saying I've absorbed 100's of songs
by 'osmosis'. I really did mean that I 'knew' those songs. Meaning music,
lyrics (mostly) and being able to immediately recognize and play the entire
melody, background and beat even without having heard the song in years. I seem
to actually 'know' thousands of songs, to be completely factual. Several
people have remarked on it. But I can't be unique...somehow, I think a song
which impresses itself on our brain-computers gets stored, eventually to pop out
when needed. Remember too, I don't play background or 'fill'...never worked
on memorizing 'riffs'. I play the actual song as if I was the vocalist (as
most chromatic players tend to do too), as well as piano players. Also...the
older we get, I think the more songs we 'store' <G>...no wonder some of the
much older players at the conventions seem to know far more songs than anyone
else.
However, since harmony and going 'off' on tangents was always a huge part
of my musical enjoyment, I've been working towards improv-ing over and playing
background lately....which is why I'm so taken with the kind of playing
SmoJoe and other jazz harmonica players like him do, hoping they'll teach me.
That ability to riff on a song, taking off into the stratosphere while never
(or almost never) ;) losing the original thread, stuns me. I can do it to a
degree on a keyboard (and then only with the right hand), but not yet on a
chromatic.
But...since hanging out at the conventions, participating in and listening
in to so many 'sing/play-alongs', I now hear a lot more of the connections
....where one song (mostly those with folk origins) ...has so many similarities
(that 'family' connection you talk about) with others. So, even at this past
Spah I found myself able to play along with songs I hadn't know before in a
group setting ...adding a little bit here and there...easily able to tell
where the song was headed.
It's convinced me that anyone who can possibly scrape the funds together and
are even remotely unsure of their playing skills/level...should try to
attend any convention...SPAH if it's at all possible if it's in your neck of the
woods, and even for a day or two if you can't stay for the entire time. It's
an incredible experience and you'll never forget it. Those taking individual
lessons will learn more by listening in than you will in hours of
instruction, and it will definitely enhance and crystallize whatever you're being
taught. The people who attend, the level of play..the wonderful camaraderie
between players of all ages...is just something I wish everyone could
experience....the Filisko teach-ins in a huge room where you can roam from table to table
picking up whatever you want to know from so many skilled
players/teachers/customizers are worth the price of admission by themselves. Can you imagine
Peter 'MadCat' Ruth holding forth at a teach-in table, answering questions?
Next to last night (Friday), I was taping in the lobby where Will Galison on
guitar, Brendan Power, Steve Baker, Richard Sleigh, Doug Tanner ....Chris
Michalek, so many other people whose names I'm blanking, don't yet have or
simply can't remember until I take another look at my tapes ....were jamming
until the wee hours...the small group of 'young-at-harp' players came in to
listen. I later saw Brendan over with them, talking harmonica...then playing for
and with them. Where else on earth could/would this ever happen? There were
some 'big names' there, yet no one played *Star*...everyone was equal, just
jamming and having an absolute blast.
Today was my scheduled surgery day, now postponed. Hopefully I can now get
to work on the dvd's I promised the people participating. Apologies for my
tardiness and inability to do anything before this.
Elizabeth
Message: 8
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:09:26 +1000
From: "Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re: questions about high keyed
harps
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>, "Dan Berger" <dberger1@xxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID: <48D922C6.7C8A.0066.0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Didn't really take off as a topic though did it? I know what you mean about
the songs you thought everyone knew. I've been running regular harp classes
for the state adult ed. school for nearly ten years, and I'm starting to get
people who don't know 'Oh Susannah', 'Old Folks at Home' etc. etc.....and I'm
not just talking about Indians, Asians etc (who, oddly enough, are more
likely to know them)
I've been thinking about starting a list of 'song/tune families'; if I get
there, I'll post it.
>>> "Dan Berger" <dberger1@xxxxxxxxxx> 20/09/2008 6:51 >>>
Aren't there really a limited number of songs
that are the roots of all the others? Like hollywood only having 7 types
of plots for movies.
Good example from this list:
"My Babe" is really "This train am bound for glory"
Good list! but I find the older I get the less others know
what I thought were songs every kid used to know.
Dan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <EGS1217@xxxxxxx>; "Gary Popenoe" <gpopenoe@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Harp-L" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2008 8:45 PM
Subject: Re: Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re: questions about high keyed harps
> Now that's a topic worthy of further discussion, Gary.
> I deliberately teach students tunes that have extended families.
> Here's a good one:
>
> When the Saints Go Marching In
> Thirty Days
> Mama don't allow
> This train am bound for glory
> I'll be glad when you're dead you rascal you
> She'll be comin' round the mountain
> Crawdad hole
> My Babe
> Caroline (Tell me where you sleep last night)
> ....and you can find plenty more that fit that category.
>
> Maybe some suggestions of other 'family group' songs?
>
> RD
>
>>>> Gary Popenoe <gpopenoe@xxxxxxxxx> 18/09/2008 21:13 >>>
> You know, there is a pattern language of western contemporary songs.
> It always seems to me that, if you learn one song, you've learned most
> of several others.
>
> It is to the point where I, and I'm sure others, can play along wth
> tunes we have never heard and appear to the listener as if we know the
> song.
>
> I was once was in Fiji and had an opportunity to jump in on a tune
> with some local players. I had never heard the song but felt I could
> handle it. I failed. Soon the guys were calling the changes to me.
>
> Their standard progression changes/song structure are different than
> western popular music. I couldn't anticipate where their songs were
> going to go.
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Sep 17, 2008, at 3:53 PM, EGS1217@xxxxxxx wrote:
>
>> Gary Popenoe writes (snipped):
>>
>> "Singing is the closest technique I have found to playing harmonica.
>> The main difference is that my vocal chords are out there just in
>> front of my teeth."
>>
>> ...that's a great way to put it...and how I always think of playing
>> harmonica too. To me it's always about 'the song' (even if it's an
>> instrumental - in that case I simply think the melody), but always I
>> sing the song in my head while using the harmonica to convey it
>> instead of my voice, which means, of course..that I have to know the
>> song before I can play it well, but that's fine since I seem to know
>> hundreds upon hundreds of songs I hadn't before realized I knew.
>> Must have just absorbed them by osmosis. :)
>>
>>
>> Elizabeth
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