Re: [Harp-L] Music First, Harmonica Second

[fjm <bad_hat@xxxxxxxx>]

Sj sez;

> > The short answer might be: Most people on the list are blues types. What
> > else are they going to reference?
>
> And every time something chromatic DOES come up, it get's buried. (Just watch & see)

Wolf said:

> "As I read submissions to harp-l, I often see opinions that are couched
> in terms about harmonica technique but are really about taste in music, or
> are heavily informed by that taste."



Hmm, I'm not a blues guy.  The recent harmonica trio stuff Dave Payne 
and George Miklas have been bringing up, it's been getting buried? 
Realistically speaking there isn't a way to bury a topic anyhow.  Either 
people post on it or they don't.  I recently had the pleasure of 
watching Dennis Greunling sit at a table in Sacramento and give 
harmonica lessons to one of the younger up and coming players.  Dennis 
is a blues type.  None of the technique he was teaching was at all 
specific to a genre of music.  He's an amazing teacher by the way.

Watching James Conway teach corner switching was another treat.  Sure 
he's trying to play Irish music with the technique but that particular 
technique is not at all specific to the music he plays. Quick big jumps 
are a lot faster if you can play out of both sides of your mouth. 
Robert Bonfiglio teaches this same technique and as far as I know he 
isn't an Irish traditional music player.  Jerry Devillier was also using 
both sides of his mouth to play traditional Cajun music.

Wnen I go to seminars even really bad ones my goal is to find at least 
one useful thing to take away from the experience.  I pretty much can 
always succeed at this. Reading harp-l is pretty much the same for me. 
Amidst the constant stream of you tube links and amp talk there are some 
real gems.  My job is to find them.  fjm