Re: [Harp-L] When Did Fast Become Good?

[Ken Deifik <kenneth.d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> When did we develop the mindset that playing at breakneck speed was the 
> hallmark of a good player?

Like many of the professional harmonica players on this list, I can if I 
wish play at lightspeed.  I developed that facility very young, as it was 
one of the things one might consider developing if you find you have the 
ability to do so.

It got me alot of my jobs when I was a teenager.

Playing very fast helped develop my abilities to play slow.  My 
articulation really became professional after I developed incredible 
speed.  I also got to know the high end of the harp really well and found 
loads of speed licks up there.  Working at high speed with a fast metronome 
gave me very, very solid time, though I'd advise that working with a 
metronome at slow speeds is MUCH more important.

Since so many of my favorite musicians played fast ONLY when appropriate, I 
decided to find the places where it was appropriate for me.

I moved to Nashville in 1974 and learned quickly that playing fast would 
get me nothing.  I wish I had learned that even faster because I blew some 
very choice opportunities that came up within a few months of 
arriving.  Luckily, I was already getting sessions and the producers mainly 
wanted me to play like Charley McCoy, who they would have hired if he had 
been available.  I never ever wanted to model my playing on anyone, but if 
someone was paying me I would've played like a duck.  Learning Charley's 
approach was of course a fantastic experience, and it improved my playing 
and my hireability immensely.  He can play as fast as anyone, but rarely does.

In my 30's I had a set of high speed practice licks that continued to help 
me develop my musicianship and my harpsmanship, but I never used them on 
gigs.  Not playing fast became its own fetish.  That continued into my 40's.

It was only when I hit 50 that it finally occurred to me that speed is 
nothing more nor less than one of the techniques we have to work with - why 
was I making such a big deal about it?  I started devoting practice time to 
inventing new speed licks, and came up with bunches of them.  When I slowed 
them down I had a bunch of new non-speed licks that I would have never come 
up with otherwise.

When I'm playing live and I get a solo I start very, very simply.  Simple 
figures, repeated and varied, are the key to telling a story to an 
audience.  I think the audience likes that best.

But audiences LOVE when I drop in a few bars, or alot of bars of high 
speed.  Speed can take on real meaning if it's more like the spice in your 
show.

As lots of harplers can testify, speed can be a real crowd pleaser.

It's just damned annoying when it's all a harmonica player can do.

But if it's just one of many tools and techniques one has to tell a musical 
story with it's a completely legitimate.

The original question was 'when did speed become the standard of good 
harpsmanship.'  I can tell you that it certainly was the standard that the 
people who were hiring me set when I started working back in the 
60's.  That was how I got work.  But like I said, over-using it kept me 
from getting work in Nashville when I was starting out there.

So my vote: fast IS good musicianship as long as it's only one of your tools.

K