Re: [Harp-L] "I don't feel ready" to join a Jam

[Cara Cooke <cyberharp@xxxxxxxxx>]

In my world, the best place to start is always the melody.  If the player
can hear and find the melody, all he has to do is get it to come off of his
instrument.  Learning to find and play the melody can/should be done before
jamming ever occurs.  Once you can control yourself and your instrument in
that basic way, jamming then offers new lessons.

Cara

On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 7:54 AM, John F. Potts <hvyj@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> I think the most significant "jam ready" consideration is whether the
> player hears music in his or her head.  That is, as music is played do they
> "hear" something they feel they can add to it.  If so, it's just a matter
> of getting sufficient technical control over the instrument to be able get
> it to come out of the harp, and jamming is a step in that process.
>
> Theory knowledge is a very helpful roadmap to assit the player in finding
> the notes he/she hears in his/her head. But if the player doesn't have
> anything in mind they want to play, I think the player will struggle more
> in a jam setting using purely theory to figure out what to play. In a jam a
> player has to be able to go with the flow--it's not like playing to a
> pre-recorded back-up track.
>
> I am of the opinion that (assuming a beginning player has at least
> rudimentary skills) a beginner will learn more in 20 minutes playing live,
> onstage with other musicians than they will learn in a month of practicing
> alone at home.
>
> FWIW.
>
> JP
>