Re: [Harp-L] a bluegrass experience

[David Naiditch <davidnaiditch@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Bill,

I've played bluegrass harmonica for many years and have attended numerous jams and festivals.  I totally agree with everything Cara says.

--David Naiditch
www.davidnaiditch.com

On Feb 7, 2012, at 1:05 PM, Cara Cooke wrote:

> Thank you for sharing this with us all, Bill.  (I am sharing it with the
> bluegrass harmonica list, too, with this message.)
> 
> I am sincerely elated that you have stuck it out and that you are finally
> seeing the bluegrass world more as I have learned it can be.  It takes a
> lot of hard work on any instrument to play bluegrass well enough to get
> that acceptance, and once you have put in the hours and work necessary,
> as they have, they know you as one of them.  They can see where you have
> been and know that you can hold up your end of the job.  You may even
> surprise them once in a while, which is fun.
> 
> Bluegrassers can be some of the most giving and helpful people when they
> understand where you are in your learning and will accept you as a beginner
> when they can see you are; but harmonica is an odd fellow to the most
> common stringed instruments, and few players, in their experience, ever
> play it well enough to blend in and help out with the music.  Since
> bluegrassers often don't know how to help a harmonica player, or even if
> they can be helped, the instrument and its players get a reputation and,
> eventually, as you said, snubbed.  If you think about it, it is a very
> simple problem.  Learn the tunes -- especially note for note, playing the
> melody, with tasteful embellishments -- and be a part of the team making
> the music, rather than stand out (unless it is your break), and you can be
> accepted by really good bluegrassers who will relish opportunities to see
> what else you can do over time, just as they do with each other.  They
> cooperatively compete to challenge each other to improve while making
> beautiful, cohesive music, all for the love of the music they are playing.
> 
> It's funny:  They used to say that you cannot play the blues until you
> experience the blues, and no other music is like that.  Bluegrass does have
> a trial by fire -- and you are tried every time you play, which is the
> point.  Welcome to a wonderful, musical world.
> 
> Now get back to your woodshedding....  You are on the uphill swing.
> 
> Cara Cooke
> 
> On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 12:36 PM, JWilliam Thompson <landcommentary@xxxxxxxxx
>> wrote:
> 
>> Last year there was a bluegrass harmonica thread on harp-l that included
>> the complaint that harmonicas are often unwelcome at bluegrass jams. I have
>> been playing bluegrass harmonica in the  DC region for years with varying
>> degrees of acceptance. As I learn more and more tunes note for note-- as a
>> fiddler would play them--I find I’m more consistently accepted.
>> 
>> On Saturday I had an experience that gave me a glimpse of how it might  be
>> one day when harmonica is accepted as a  bluegrass instrument. I wandered
>> into a jam of some of the finest pickers in the area. Even though I have
>> learned and practiced bluegrass tunes and licks for years and have waded
>> into plenty of jams before, each new situation is unique and, as a harp
>> player, you always run the risk of being snubbed.
>> 
>> What happened was just the opposite. I seemed to be embedded in the band.
>> At the end of the session, someone who was going to sing “Life’s Railway to
>> Heaven” turned to me and said, “Got your  harmonica ready?”—a very rare
>> question, in my experience, in bluegrass jams. I gave it all I had, and
>> afterward, the banjo player across from me gave me a nod and a smile.
>> 
>> I don’t pretend that harmonica doesn’t have a long way to go toward full
>> acceptance in bluegrass, but my experience Saturday encourages me that we
>> are making progress. I look forward to the day when “Got your harmonica
>> ready?” will be commonly heard in bluegrass.
>> 
>> Bill in DC
>>