Re: [Harp-L] really cheap harmonicas - $5 dozen / my warning

[Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I don't think I understand this klepto for harmonica players having this need to flood harmonicas onto youngsters. 
I can't think of any other group of musicians whom does this. Is it because the harmonica is cheaper than (for example) a violin?, an accordion? They only thing you get with cheap harmonicas is spreading disallusionment and frustration.  

I seem to recall back in the early 50s when there was a new thing (sic) on the market  called an ocarina. Kids were getting them at the five & dime stores. Those and yo-yos. But no one was giving them away. Then there was the rash of recorders in the 60s. That and the hula hoop. In the 70s it was probably something else...and the pet rock. Then sea monkeys and chia pets. 

My point is that I don't like the idea of making decisions FOR youngsters. What's wrong with letting them decide for themselves. And if they want it bad enough, they will probably come up with a solution. Hinging off the previous post about who influenced you in the harmonica world, the question could just as easily be 'who influenced you in the MUSIC world?

I can recall my first love. I was standing in the front of a shop that couldn't have been more than 8 1/2 feet wide and by the time you left 3 ft for the doorway, you were left with a display corner window of 5 ft by 5 ft. And in that window were at least 3 DOZEN accordions. Every thing from full 41 key 120 bass models to ones with 8 keys and 2 bass. And everything in between.

I fell in love with a 27 key 36 bass model. Just my 9 year old size. Well, there was no way I was going to get one. So, a few weeks later I bought a diatonic with my shoe shine boy money.."Hey Joey..go and get your shine box". Only got to play it for a week when it got run over by a streetcar while I was running to school. 3 1/2 years later I got a chromatic..and that's what I play.

As years went by, I moved to trumpet, then clarinet, sax, and then...eventually I got that accordion. But it wasn't the same. I had lost my original zeal. Another thing I am against is that every time there is a musical give away program, it seems to be in the inner city. To me this is like telling poor kids. "Here's a harmonica, now go get yourself out of your predicament". I think it's an insult. In conclusion, I think people should leave the kids alone. If they want something bad enough, let them figure it out. That's how kids learn for themselves and become independent.

smokey-joe   
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