Re: [Harp-L] Are there pro harp players who do not know theory?



Slim Heilpern wrote:
>Agreed, but in my opinion, there's a huge difference between your  
>conscious and unconscious mind. My understanding of music theory is  
>intermediate and I rarely give it any thought when I'm playing --  
>that's because I don't do very well when I try to think and play at  
>the same time -- by the time I figure it out, the moment has passed. I  
>believe that the same part of my brain that allows me to do things  
>like touch type or ride a bicycle "automatically" allows me to compose  
>or improvise without giving it much (if any) conscious thought.
>
>When I'm practicing, music theory helps me to understand what will  
>work when my unconscious mind doesn't know what to do on its own.  
>Eventually I internalize the lesson and I don't have to think about it  
>anymore.
>
>But that's just me. I have a high regard for those who always know  
>exactly what they're about to do and why they're going to do it before  
>they do it, especially in the context of jazz improvisation and  
>especially if they can, on top of all that, play tastefully and  
>soulfully. I think this does give them a huge advantage and I think  
>they must have bigger brains than I ;-).
>

Dead on, Slim.  When I improvise I certainly am not consciously thinking about theory.  But the practice and study I've put into the subject is there, and it helps me make right decisions unconsciously.

For some players it's more conscious than that.  I read an interview once with Donald Fagan of Steely Dan in which he talked about bringing the brilliant jazz saxophonist Wayne Shorter in to record one of the Dan's tunes. According to Fagan, the first thing Shorter did was write down the changes; the second thing he did was list out the scales he might use against those changes.  When he'd finished analyzing the tune, he was ready to record.

Many musicians do something more intuitive when they practice a new tune--they just try out different scales against the changes until they hit on something that works, as opposed to analyzing the music beforehand.  That's more time consuming, but it works for some people.

In general, I think it's pretty tough to argue that the less you know about what you're doing, the better off you are.

Regards, Richard Hunter

author, "Jazz Harp" 
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