Re: [Harp-L] In Defense of "the long road to understanding"( long post)

[IcemanLE@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 3/1/2009 3:02:44 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
samblancato@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:

Since  his comments were somewhat condescending I want to
defend what I was  doing.
I can't argue with Sam's feelings that he felt the comments were  
condescending - he is entitled to them. From the sound of the response, Sam  perhaps is a 
bit overly defensive.
 
However, I did not post in a condescending fashion from my end. I used Sam  
as an example as it was his post that inspired me to write about what I've  
discovered after many years of concentrated teaching. Sam isn't the first person  
to tell me of similar experiences - a lot of my students have complained 
about  the same things. My response to Sam's post was a description of how I've 
been  able to successfully open a new door of understanding and perception 
within the  student, giving him a short cut to confident performance and 
accelerated  growth.
 
<<The title of my post
was "practice and the mind"; not  'improvisation and the mind' or 'live
performance and the  mind'.>>
 
Too true. I could have changed the title of the post to reflect more the  
information I was imparting. For some reason, it didn't seem that necessary to  
me to get the ideas across. However, if the point is regarding the subject line 
 with more focus being on political correctness, shall we say, I'll sure try 
to  remember in my responses to put a new title up there with a (was:practice 
and  the mind).
 
<<You use the phrase 'rote memorization' like this is some inferior  thing.
You are just wrong about this.  There is this mindset out there  that says
that the imitation of really great harp players as some kind of low  road,
or, as you call it, the "long Road".  If this it true than Kim  Wilson, Gerry
Portnoy, Mark Hummel, and a score of other blues harp greats  are guilty of
this low road.  Because they all did exactly what I was  dong in my practice
and they told me so first hand.  Actually, Hummel  told me he studied and
imitated SB I and II and LW and George Smith.   Those were the guys out there
when he was coming up into his  own.>>    
 
I don't see the "inferior thing" to which Sam refers - my sentence read  
"Instead of learning by rote or memorization the flow of another, discover how  to 
express the flow that exists within yourself at whatever level you  play."
 
This was a suggestion to discover personal flow, something that exists  
within even a rank beginner, and seems to be a real eye opener to all that I've  
taught this technique. To date, I've not found any other teacher or methodology  
that deals with this particular aspect of music, improv and performance. This 
 doesn't mean that it is wrong or doesn't exist, just that I may be one of 
the  first to explore this direction.
 
I talk about the "long road" - not LOW road-  versus a short one.  Without 
being shown that a short road may exist, it is true that Kim, Jerry,  Mark and a 
score of other blues harp greats are "guilty" (?) of this long road.  (I 
wouldn't say "guilty" - that's a loaded word - I may say that they  unfortunately 
may have taken a long road when a shorter one could exist).
 
I gave a workshop with Mark Hummel a few years ago, in which this very  topic 
came up. He did talk about copying and memorizing by rote. I did talk  about 
the alternative. He jokingly referenced the fact that I had somehow  negated 
his approach. It is totally understandable how someone could feel  defensive 
about what they've done when shown an alternative that they hadn't  considered 
that could have shaved years off in achieving the final goal.
 
However, Mark couldn't argue with the concept nor the results.
 
Not to downplay Mark, Jerry or Kim, but there just may be another approach  
beyond the "way it has always been done". I've interacted with all three of  
these players in discussion and also playing harmonica. They've all been  
impressed with what I've created using my alternative methods. The most  validating 
aspect, however, is the growth within the students that I teach. I've  even 
taken a total beginner and given him the ability and confidence within six  
months to hold his own for a song at a jam session. One older gentleman even  
recorded a CD for his family within 6 months of learning to play - what he laid  
down sure didn't sound like someone only 6 months into it - based on the "way 
it  has always been done".
 
Sam replies <<"Alternately, a shorter path may be found in  discovering one's 
own flow and
level of idea. If you are true to where you  exist in your abilities, even a
simple idea or sustained note will make Kim  Wilson come up to you, shake
your hand and tell you that he was moved by your  performance."

This isn't a shorter path, this is an incomplete  path.  You are talking
about playing original, improvised material and  there is certainly a time
and a place for setting aside the canned sentences  and trying to find some
place inside yourself from which to speak your own  truth.  But even Gerry
Portnoy told me he thought it was next to  impossible to create new blues
material on harmonica "whole cloth", as he put  it.>>
 
Nope, it is not an incomplete path. It is a shorter one. Even a beginner  can 
play original improvised material - original from within him - not a  
memorized set of licks or ideas wherein once you start the first note the rest  of 
the musical line is a forgone conclusion and every time you play it, it is  
always the same - like a cut and paste on a computer. One does have to start  
somewhere, so examining another's musical line is a logical starting point, the  
same as "See Spot run. Run Spot, run" is how one may begin to learn to read and 
 write. 
 
Once children learn to write "canned sentences", the teacher most likely  
should, as soon as possible, encourage them to try writing "original sentences"  
based on what lies within the student. I remember copying sentences from a 
book  or the blackboard back in 1st or 2nd Grade, but certainly don't remember 
doing  this for very long before putting my own words on paper. Of course, when 
I made  mistakes, the teacher would show me how to correct them for a better  
communication, but the teacher sure didn't have me writing by rote for as long 
 as harmonica players seem to memorize other's ideas.
 
Jerry Portnoy may think it next to impossible to create new blues material  
on harmonica whole cloth, but that doesn't mean that it is impossible or even  
difficult. This is Jerry's opinion based on all the info he has been given  
during his life experience. One person's personal experience is hardly all that  
exists out there in any endeavor.
 
<<"If you are true to where you exist in your abilities" - what does  that
mean?  I was writing about practicing harmonica not improvising  or
performing.>>
 
True to where you exist in your abilities is playing from where you are in  
this moment - not trying to play as if you are more advanced than you really  
are. Some memorized solos contain concepts and techniques beyond the student 
and  therefore come across as agitated and without relaxed flow when attempted 
in  performance. There are alternative ways to build yourself up towards more  
advanced concepts and techniques by assimilating organically and easily as you 
 go, a little at a time, in which your performance doesn't suffer, but rather 
 sounds quite relaxed and flowing. It is difficult to describe the technique 
in  an email and is best learned in a live situation, but please believe that 
this  alternative method does exist and is quite powerful, as I've discovered 
through  application and results.
 
You were writing about practicing harmonica, I morphed it a bit towards  
performance and improvising through a different method of practicing harmonica.  
If you don't discount a new methodology just because it is new, I will be more  
mindful of the subject lines of my responses.
 
The Iceman
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