[Harp-L] Improvisation: long road/short road

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

I’ve never been much of an imitator in my playing or my learning.  At  
first, it was because I lacked the ability.  Then, as my technique  
developed, I lacked the interest.  I would much rather play what I  
felt like playing instead of trying to play something  some other, no  
doubt better, harmonica player had recorded. (After all, since  
someone had already made a recording of it, why should I bother  
duplicating it?)  So, while I like LW’s original, there are few  
things I find as uninteresting as some other harp player playing  
“Juke” note for note.  (I mean, didn’t some well known ODBG already  
do that?)

Of course, scales and bends and other techniques had to be practiced  
to be learned.

 But if I was going to try to imitate something, it would usually be  
something like a sax or an electric violin, or maybe an organ, and I  
would often wind up making more of an approximation than an  
imitation. I don’t play the harmonica like it’s a harmonica anyway.   
Never have. Never wanted to. That’s not where I get most of my ideas,  
although I certainly do get inspiration from the great harp players,  
too.

Learning parts is useful, and in certain contexts, absolutely  
essential.  But improvisation, for the most part, is different. You  
hear it in your head, not from a recording. It’s what you feel. The  
goal is to make it come out of the harmonica, which each player can  
learn to do at his/her own pace, in his/her own way.  This is a very  
different process than trying to recreate what someone else has  
played.  I think this is what Iceman means by discovering one’s own  
flow.

I must confess that I’m sort of surprised to hear this concept coming  
from the Iceman, who I have occasionally chided about being  
inflexible and rigid in his approach.  But I think he’s come up with  
an important creative insight here that’s deeply valid and  
pedagogically useful.  And also flexible, fun and fulfilling for the  
student.

But what do I know, anyway?  I’m self taught.

JP