[Harp-L] Where will the knowledge go?

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Listening to Brendan Power's wonderful "Lament for the 21st Century", I found myself wondering: who will carry this forward in future?  Brendan is using non-standard instruments in unusual ways.  How will future players acquire those instruments and learn the techniques?

The question isn't limited to Brendan's music.  Tony Eyers, Jim Conway, PT Gazell, and myself, to name a few, are all using non-standard instruments for lots of stuff.  My tunings are at least available from manufacturers off-the-shelf (well, most of them).  What about the others?

One of the things that made blues harmonica endure, I'm sure, is the fact that the players were using the same basic instruments.  You could figure out what they were doing once you knew the instrument well enough.  How does that work when you have no idea what kind of odd and rare instrument is being used to play a piece?   

Perhaps this music will simply go away when we do.  I don't know if that's sad.  After all, the music exists in recordings, and the recordings may outlive all of us by hundreds or thousands of years.  But I do think it's a real possibility that 50 years from now, nobody may be playing the stuff live, because they won't know where to start.

Regards, Richard Hunter
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp