Re: [Harp-L] Playing While Driving

[joe leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Nov 30, 2009, at 2:55 PM, Larry Marks wrote:

> Yeah. I live in a small I-5 community at the North end of the State  
> of California. I am pretty used to getting in my car, turning on  
> the cruise control and driving the 60 miles or so to the nearest  
> city - Redding, CA or Medford, OR. When I am driving by myself, I  
> certainly pull out my harp and play. I turn the radio off and do  
> regular practice stuff - scales, arpeggios, riffs and tunes I'm  
> working on, but never new stuff. Also with my trombone mouthpiece.
>
> Personally, I don't find it terribly distracting - no more so than  
> listening, really listening to music. Also, I regularly operate two- 
> way radio equipment from my car, and that has the potential of  
> being much more distracting than the rote practice I do in the car.  
> I also limit my playing to my I-5 trips.  I-5 may be the most  
> boring road in the country, so the playing helps keep me from  
> nodding off.
>
> I don't try terribly hard to hide what I am doing, but I don't wave  
> the thing at cops or other drivers either.
>
> Well, enough rationalizing...
>
>   -LM
> _
I like your explaination Larry and offer this scenario:
Mama Cass (the live one) and I recently went from south west Fla to  
upper N. J.. The trip was around 1300 miles one way. I will break it  
down into 4 parts of 325 miles each.
1... It takes me 325 miles to get out of Fla. In that time I noticed  
that we had 2 lanes on my side of the road, and a vehicle about every  
686 feet (average)
2... Through Ga. & S. C. I had 4 lanes and a vehicle every 203 ft.
3... Through N.C. and Va., it was 6 lanes and a vehicle every 60 ft.
4... The last quarter was Wash D.C./Balt/Phila/Newark/destination. It  
was 8 lanes and a vehicle every 17 ft 10 inches.

Talk about driving with your heart in your throat.

On a trip from Lake Charles La. to Shreveport, I once had 2 lanes and  
a vehicle every 2,314 ft.
Once near Ft. Stocton Tex, I drove for 4 minutes at 75 (that's 5  
miles folks) before I even SAW another vehicle...and THAT one was on  
the other side.
Once in the hills of W.Va., I drove for 13 minutes on a highway all  
by myself. But that was in the wee hours of the morning..so it don't  
count. They were all sleeping in preparation for deer season...their  
most important holday.  lolol

So, I guess it all depends on where one drives. I guess I'm done. lolol

Practice behind the wheel isn't real practice anyway. Sure, you can  
familiarize yourself with a tune's tricky parts, or maybe do runs and  
riffs over and over to nail them, but I think the pros probably pick  
a spot where there are no distractions. This way they can give it  
100%. And use the hand movements if required. Maybe even play while  
standing. (hard to get some vibratos while sitting). Maybe even in  
front of a mirror. Some probably even have a chart in front of them  
for reference.

smo-joe