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



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




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