[Harp-L] SPAH Convention 2012

[Elizabeth Hess <TrackHarpL@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

SPAH Convention 2012
 
This year I attended my third SPAH convention.  I ran into someone I knew before I even entered the hotel, and more within minutes, and more and more and more.  The community and camaraderie just keep getting better every year.
 
Beginners’ Blues Jam
I read stories about the jams that go on far into the night, but I’m a morning person, and each of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings found me at Michael Rubin’s beginners’ blues jam.  I think I’m less of a beginner than I used to be, but sometimes I still try to pass as one, and Michael makes everyone welcome.  What I love about this jam is that Michael invites and encourages everyone to take risks, and he provides a safe place to do that. This year I deployed an overblow for the first time in front of others, and one time I sang instead of playing.  Great fun.  I also feel that the group from the beginners’ jam forms an informal cohort, a group within the larger community, and I enjoyed touching base and comparing notes with other “beginner” jammers throughout the week.
 
Seminars
I attended several seminars.  Two were especially good.  The overblow seminar presented by Todd Parrott and TJ Klay was impeccably organized, interesting, informative, and stayed on track.  Todd and TJ spent minimal time on how to produce an overblow (but invited newcomers to that technique to ask them later), and moved briskly to how to set up a harp for overblowing, where on the reeds to put the beeswax to mitigate that wretched shrieking sound, how to bend the overblows higher than just a half-step, and how to use them in the context of a song.  I learned a lot.
 
For all my posturing about not being a “gear head”, I own a Digitech RP355, and thoroughly enjoyed Richard Hunter’s seminar on looping, layering, and getting the most out of the equipment.  Richard demonstrated a wide variety of sounds, and it was the difference between making swatches with a new set of watercolor paints and having an artist say, “Here, let me show you how to make a picture with these.”  An especially useful bit was his explanation of how one should make each layer take up a different part of the pitch spectrum – i.e. a low-pitched layer, a mid-range layer, and a higher-pitched layer, so that they don’t all blur together and sound muddy.  I put this knowledge to immediate use at my local blues jam the night after I got home:  There were the usual guitars plus two tenor saxophones on stage with me, and I knew not only to use my highest-key harp for the song (an F, as it happens), but that I should do so because no-one else was occupying that pitch space.  It worked beautifully.  My favorite Richard Hunter quote:  “Everyone deserves to have a bit of wacka-ja-wacka in his or her day.”  Wonderful stuff.
 
I also attended the seminar that presented the new Suzuki SUB-30 harp, and enjoyed hearing Brendan Power and Filip Jers play.  I bought a SUB-30, and will write a review of that harp separately.
 
This year each seminar time slot began and ended at the same time, with an hour-and-a-half allowed for each and a break in between.  Not every seminar took up the full 90 minutes, and the overall effect was a much more sane and relaxed pace.  Hats off to Manfred Wewers for the wonderful job he did in coordinating everything, and even improving the seminar experience over last year.  Well done, sir.
 
Joe Filisko’s Teach-In
The teach-in is one of my favorite things at SPAH.  I spent Thursday afternoon learning some old-timey songs from Grant Dermody.  I bought a PT Gazell valved harp from PT Gazell, himself, and sat next to PT on Friday, getting a first-hand lesson on how to start playing this harp to its best advantage.  I have always especially enjoyed Steve Baker’s playing, and I got to spend Saturday afternoon at Steve’s elbow, getting his take on timing and phrasing, and was enlightened – I hope.  The opportunity to sit next to and learn one-on-one or in a small group from some of the best players and teachers in the world is simply amazing.
 
Performances
For external reasons, I almost didn’t attend the SPAH convention this year, but when I read on the SPAH web site that Rupert Oysler was going to be performing, that sealed it.  I wasn’t disappointed.  To paraphrase Rupert’s introductory remarks to one of the pieces he played, his solo performance “entered my comfort zone and made me more comfortable.”  Bravo.
 
Michael Rubin and the Kalu James band play a style of music to which I admit I am not naturally drawn.  That said, I enjoyed Michael’s performance thoroughly.  He played chromatic harmonica on one song, bass harmonica on another song, and diatonic on two others.  The harmonica playing in every song was different, virtuosic, and engaging to listen to, and I’m glad I went.
 
The thing I enjoyed most at this SPAH convention, by far, was a performance listed on the schedule as, simply, “Acoustic Blues Hour”.  The schedule didn’t indicate who was performing, and it was only by chance that I learned (ahead of time, thank goodness) that it was David Barrett, Grant Dermody, Joe Filisko, and Jelly Roll Johnson, accompanied by the inestimable Eric Noden on guitar.  I would re-live this hour repeatedly, if I could.
 
 
My thanks to the SPAH board members, the convention committee, the local harmonica clubs, and SPAH’s corporate sponsors, Hohner, Seydel, and Suzuki, for giving us yet another wonderful convention.  Next year in St. Louis, everyone.
 
Elizabeth Hess (aka “Tin Lizzie”)