[Harp-L] SPAH 2012 photos and reflections

[The Iceman <icemanle@xxxxxxx>]

nice quality photos. good job.




-----Original Message-----
From: KEITH MITCHELL <keithm@xxxxxxx>
To: harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Mon, Aug 27, 2012 12:35 am
Subject: [Harp-L] SPAH 2012 photos and reflections


My photo collection from SPAH 2012
http://keithm.smugmug.com/Events/SPAH-2012/24861210_ZwpJ5D
If you see one of yourself you would like, email me at keithm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
to receive the full size printable image via email. (no charge of course)


SPAH 2012 in Texas was my 2nd SPAH experience, having attended last year in 
Norfolk.   I was blown away by the skill level, the variety of harmonica genres, 
the willingness of the world's best talents to sit and talk shop with even the 
lowest of beginners.   I continue to expand my interest beyond my initial focus 
on just blues diatonic.   This year I decided to take advantage of the Judy and 
Al music theory six hour block of instruction using the chromatic harp.  This 
was a wonderful experience and I am well on my way to being able to play from 
standard music notation now.   

The list of performers that were my favorites is long but will name a few.  At 
the top of the list is Todd Parrott. (http://toddparrott.com/) His mastery of 
the diatonic for country and gospel cross harp is mind boggling.  I have  few 
videos I captured of him at Hill Country Harmonica 2012  that will add you to 
his growing fan base:

http://youtu.be/t-BVfhWHKoA
http://youtu.be/qTgE1tOfBTc
http://youtu.be/EUn0vL_l70Y
http://youtu.be/y3HAFoscFLE
http://youtu.be/1knTMO1keeo

With a similar style of playing, I really enjoyed meeting and learning from Mike 
Caldwell:
http://mikecaldwellmusic.com/
I bought all of his CDs and am enjoying dissecting his music now.

I have 2 harps now from PT Gazell and enjoyed seeing him in person again.  The 
looping session by Brendon Powers was out of this world. As usual the Filisko 
Teach-in was great with even more instructors to pick from this year.  I got my 
yearly David Barrett yearly fix and was impressed with the growing fan base for 
Austin based Michael Rubin's instruction.  Met for the first time the Welch 
brothers from Dallas and appreciate their hard work with the convention and 
their talent on the harp.   Jimi Lee, as usual, added to the success of the 
conference with his wiliness to share his skills in jam sessions and live 
performances.  Good to see my harmonica customizer Greg Jones of 
http://1623customharmonicas.com/  in person. His table in the vendor area was 
always buzzing.

Keith Mitchell
Round Rock, Tx