[Harp-L] Shimmer

[Dennis Moriarty <yodennis@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just in from a show in Brooklyn and we (BoneDog) did one of my  
favorites: "Temptation" (Written and performed by Tom Waits and  
relatively popularized by Dianna Krall) that I kind of shimmer through  
on my instrument. Our vocalist sings with her voice and I sing with my  
harp....... After all the comparing I do with other musicians that  
grounds me in the relative poverty of my talent a song comes along (In  
this case: Temptation) that makes everything other than the music I'm  
playing irrelevant. To me the harp is an extremely vocal instrument:  
growling and shimmering and dipping and soaring just like a  
mellifluous or angry or sexy vocalist! So what is this "shimmering"?  
It's a metaphor for hmm: weaving in and out of a vocalists way, light  
volume with deep meaning, nuance, almost like something sheer that  
defers to the breeze but in this case the breeze is music. I guess for  
me it's a kind of sexy "in the pocket" groove. I just call the groove  
shimmer because in the aforementioned example: "Temptation" the song  
was sexy. It is also a bit autistic for me because in those moments  
there is a suspension of duality between me and the music. And the  
audience hears it too. They, or some of them, become  
engaged........All my best. d         http://www.myspace.com/blowintheblues