Re: [Harp-L] bluegrass harmonica (referenced in Country Western Harmonica Players thread)

Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx> · Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:34:24 -0500

This post is absolutely FABULOUS. It is EXACTLY what's going on, what  
HAS gone on, and what WILL go on. You saved me a whole bunch of  
trouble trying to write this. I noticed that about you he first time  
I met you. No BS, no beating around the bush, no personal agenda, no  
'sales' pitches. Just honest to goodness down to earth TRUTH.
sMo-joe
On Jan 10, 2009, at 2:41 AM, Cara Cooke wrote:
IcemanLE found it interesting that a music vendor told him that  
there was

very little interest in the harmonica at bluegrass festivals  
("after all,

Bill Monroe didn't have a harmonica in the band").  If that were a

requirement, then accordion sales would be much better at bluegrass

festivals and dobro would be totally unknown.  Bill had an  
accordion player

in the band in 1945.  Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys  
were the

first to have a dobro player (1950s).  They also had a harmonica  
player - a

fellow named Earl Taylor.
Bill Monroe's favorite harmonica player was DeFord Bailey, who  
traveled with

Bill's show in the baseball days.  DeFord Bailey could play the  
music well

enough, but he performed solo on these tours because he was a solo  
act on

the Grand Ole' Opry.  Rick Epping was right when he said that Bill  
accepted

the harmonica (if played well).  Most bluegrassers will, too, if the

instrument is played well, with musicianship and courtesy to the other

players.  That is where WE (harmonica players) fail.
It isn't that the instrument is banned, but the fact that most of  
the people

who play it cannot play it to the level required and can become  
obnoxious

while they try to participate in the music.  Like a kid who gets  
bitten by a

vicious dog at a young age and develops a dislike for dogs later in  
life,

bluegrassers are accustomed to being invaded by harmonica players  
who want

to play (all the time), but who still are too beginner to listen  
and learn

how best to fit in, and tend to dislike playing with them.  Once  
they figure

out that the harmonica player that just joined them is good enough,  
skilled

enough, and tasteful enough to really contribute to the whole and not

detract, they won't feel so uneasy about him being there and will  
be more

than happy to see what else he has "under the hood".
A good blues harp player can still be a beginner in bluegrass.   
Bluegrass

has plenty of blues in it, but unless you can find a melody and  
work with it

and spend some time really learning tunes and developing a sense of  
when to

be in and when to stay out (and how), you will still have  
difficulty getting

into bluegrass and not being obnoxious.  What seems simple and

straightforward isn't always.  Bluegrass musicians spend many hours  
learning

their tunes and their instruments and their roles so that they can  
approach

the music as if it just came to them.  Anyone who has not put in this

'woodshedding' time will become obnoxious to the other players,  
regardless

of instrument, unless he at least can learn to improve those things  
in which

he is deficit.
Harmonica players have to spend at least as much time on their  
instruments

as the string players do.  And, since diatonic players have a few

limitations, they have challenges to overcome on their own that  
make playing

bluegrass on harmonica an advanced achievement.  So if you don't  
learn and

woodshed with the intent to become better than good enough to  
participate,

you may have difficulty melding in with the others.
Interestingly enough, bluegrassers will most often take the time to  
help

those they have identified as beginners to help them learn to  
become better

players.  Beginner string players can be just as obnoxious as  
harmonica

players.
However, beginner string players are usually obvious and easy to  
help for

another string player.  Harmonica players are another problem.   
Many of them

don't consider themselves as 'beginner' even though they really are

'beginner' to the music, so they are not always open to the same  
general

ideas that would be shared with other beginners.  And, the ideas  
that will

help the harmonica player better get along in the music are very  
different

and somewhat foreign to the string players.  Often, only those who  
have also

trod that path can help.
One of the things that music vendor could have done for himself is  
exchange

the Dave Barrett blues harmonica instructional DVD for something  
done by

Mike Stevens or Charlie McCoy.  Bluegrassers know who these people  
are and

how they play.  There are so few harmonica players that get to the  
level

where they can play bluegrass well that there really aren't that  
many role

models to follow.  And, let's face it, the concept of taking  
lessons to

learn how to play harmonica is really pretty new, so how many wannabe

players think that they are going to get anything out of such an

instructional DVD at the prices such things usually cost --  
especially if

they do not recognize the player teaching in it?  It would be very

difficult, consequently, for a music vendor with this merchandise  
to have

any clue how popular harmonica really was at the festivals where he is

vending.  The fact is, even if he sold decent harmonicas as such a  
festival,

he probably would not get many good bites because anyone who does play

harmonica has already set himself up to be self-sufficient --  
knowing that,

if he really needed one, there would not be any decent harmonicas  
for sale

at the festival for a decent price.  Music vendors at festivals  
usually

always carry instrument strings, because they regularly break, but  
often

never carry decent harmonicas.
When I started playing bluegrass as a kid, I had no teacher on  
harmonica.  I

just played what was in my head.  But I took guitar lessons.  The  
concept of

"harmonica teacher" was beyond reality.  Why would you ever take  
lessons on

an instrument that plays something the moment that you put it to your

mouth?  Stringed instruments look complicated and really make bad  
noises if

you don't get lessons, yet, a little over a century ago, people didn't

always take much in the way of lessons on them either.  Over time  
we are

learning that there really is a need for harmonica instruction, and as

beginner players recognize they have something to learn from  
instruction,

they are beginning to seek it out.  In time, harmonica instruction  
should

become more normal and things like instructional videos & CDs  
should sell a

bit better.

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