[Harp-L] Re: Tilting the Harp, & Irony

["Brendan Power" <bren@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Oh dear, I always forget that Americans have an irony deficiency! After a
couple of alarmed responses to my last post, I realise once again that
British humour is not grasped by our friends across the Atlantic and that we
often need to explain the meaning of jokes in excruciating detail.



Over here (as well as in other English-speaking nations like my native New
Zealand, Australia, Canada & Ireland), people often deliberately overstate
things, or say the opposite of what they really mean, for comic effect. It’
s intuitively understood and appreciated by all around - but unfortunately
many Americans take the comments at face value and misunderstandings arise.



If I have to spell it out: I love the sound of good Tongue-Block playing -
as well as puckering and the rolled-tongue style that others employ. If it’
s used well, ANY embouchure is good! It’s silly to rate one over another;
as with the guitar, it’s pointless to rate fingerstyle over pick playing -
they are different approaches and get different sounds & effects. Players
will prefer one or other for their own personal use, but there is no
absolute better or worse.



I was just joking in an overstated, humorous manner that the TB guys
sometimes do give the impression of making that absolute judgement of
superiority, mainly because their style was used by Little Walter and other
Blues greats. Some of them tend to dis pucker playing for that reason, as if
it is somehow not worthy of a true harmonica player. You see that implied or
even stated on the purist blues harp forums from time to time.



As a result I was comparing puckering to having an embarrassing disease or
sexual proclivity that one feels the need to cover up, and then making a
grandiloquent gesture of coming out bold and proud. The use of the word
‘Nazis’ is a case in point in the ironic overstatement. Over here in the
Celtic music scene players often joke about the ‘Trad Nazis’ who frown on
any departure from strict old-time Irish traditional playing. It is widely
used and understood in that comic sense. I was using it in the same manner
to describe those in the traditional blues scene who think that
tongue-blocking is the only legitimate way to play the harmonica.



Continuing the ironic overstatement to a ridiculous extent, I went on to
claim that puckering with a tilt was the best of all approaches. This is
something I don’t actually believe, and I would have thought that was clear
from the context. But apparently not for some - hence this long-winded
explanation.



I hope all is clear now, for whoever needs it spelled out…



Brendan Power

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