Re: [Harp-L] students & motivation

David Michelsen Tuition <dmharpman@xxxxxxxxx> · Fri, 25 Mar 2011 23:15:59 +0000

 Thank you for these.
In terms of melodies that exercise the pitches that need to be mastered 
I'd like to offer this one for the 'nearly advanced' student.

 Yesterday by the Beatles. Played in the key of F (as per the Beatles 
Complete, Piano version), on a C harp. This puts you in 12th position. 
The alteration from the C scale is only the flattening of the B.  12th 
position sounds harder than you may find it . Yesterday is such a well 
known song and it uses the first 2 bends on 3 a lot, so when you get it 
wrong it sounds ill & it goes slowly so every nuance is shown.
I find that it isn't so much being able to plat the second bend on three 
in tune that's hard but rather being able to get it from all angles. As 
a 2nd in the key of G, or the 3rd in F and so on. There is a tendency 
for students to learn the bends in descending sequence and because of 
this they may find them selves thrown into confusion when approaching it 
in different directions and key/scale sets.
what are your thoughts on this?
All the best David
On 25/03/2011 21:05, The Iceman wrote:

The whole idea of this direction is to use tone sequences that are already in the inner ear of the student, so he will have something to relate to when discovering bending to pitch, etc.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Fertig<drfertig@xxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l<harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, Mar 25, 2011 12:25 pm
Subject: [Harp-L] students&  motivation

Dave McKelvey instructed me to practice the three stacatto notes in the Batman
theme, I'd call it the first 8 1/8 notes, repeated twice, to exercise the
three-step draw bend.  Not exciting, but effective!  Well, if you're a Batman
fanatic, maybe it's exciting (RIP Alfred . . )
-Dave "Holey Harphead, Batman!" Fertig
--- On Thu, 3/24/11, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx<harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Re: [Harp-L] students&  motivation
         	Thursday, March 24, 2011 11:17 AM

             From:
             "The Iceman"<icemanle@xxxxxxx>

         	To:
         	dmharpman@xxxxxxxxx, harp-l@xxxxxxxxxxx
  will find a melody that incorporates the notes created through bending
technique to get the sound of the interval in their inner ear. Then they
  can match that sound through the harmonica and creating a note through
the bending technique.

For instance:
The song "Spoonful"
"That spoon that spoon that spoon-ful"
This
  is a minor third interval. Starting with 2 hole inhale as "That", they
can now match the 3 hole first inhale bend with "spoon", making the
harmonica "sing" this simple musical line.
I have found that
using a tuner to visually tune in their bends is one step removed from
hearing it in their heads and recreating it "out of thin air".
The Iceman
-----Original Message-----
From: David Michelsen Tuition<dmharpman@xxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l<harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thu, Mar 24, 2011 9:39 am
Subject: [Harp-L] students&  motivation

   Would those of you who teach like to share what strategies you use to
help students keep motivated in the often dispiriting period when they
learn to bend notes. Also how to keep up the motivation in that time
when they are learning to keep the three  bends on three&  the two bends
on draw two play in tune.
I recommend to all my students that they use a chromatic tuner to help
them to tune their ears&  bends in. David

--
D Priestley AKA Dr Midnight.
England's first  harmonica Guru.

I hope this info helps, do feel free to phone.
Harmonica lessons are currently £25.00 per hour, discounts for bulk booking are available (bulk = 10 for a 20% discount, making study £20.00 a session&  20 lessons for a 25% discount = £18.75  a session).
  I Teach from 10 till 20:00 all the days of the week. I teach from:
51 Barkston Gdns, the basement flat, closest Tube Earls Court.
Call me  on 0207 373 0295 to book lessons or get more info.

E-mail-dmharpman@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.cognitionarts.com/
Phone: 0207 373 0295