[Harp-L] Learning Styles

["Robert Laughlin" <harmonicaman1968@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

People often have what's called "filters", which affect how they learn, how they receive instruction, etc.

My youngest, for example, when he took a martial arts class, was a very serious student. That was his personality at that time, and still to this day. He listens well, and tries to apply what he hears with vigor.

However, some of the other students, as serious as they were (as serious as pre-adolescent boys can be), just didn't have the natural abilities that my son did at the time. Their response to the same instructions were at times slack, in comparison, or careless, resulting, in at least one case, in an injury, a broken arm, while trying to accomplish a kind of intentional "fall".

So, with harmonica, some students take every verbal instruction with all the respect due the teacher, but without enough experience for adequate personal interpretation, which then can result in a poorly executed response, resulting at times in some rather injurious sounds, to the less patient.

If we say, for instance, that one must not "pucker", some might take that to the extreme, while the original intent was merely a pointer, not a mandate.

I "pucker", and I'm not ashamed to admit it (though to be specific, the lips are more relaxed than in the case of a literal "pucker"). I'd call it more of a "mother-pucker" than a "little bitty pucker".

Yeah, maybe Iceman is right. "Pucker" doesn't fully describe it adequately.

I use this method mostly, mixed with some tongue-blocking for octaves and other intervals and chords. So, as has been said, I'm using everything available to me, for my particular preferred style of play, and my unique mouth, tongue and airway size and shape. I work on it until it works, and for me, it does. I get "good" to "interesting" to "rave" responses from the other band members or random people I pass on the way out the door, so I'm happy with that, though my own personal internal meter means a lot more to me than the frequent flow of appreciation shown me at a club. I always strive to better myself rather than bore myself.

But there are simply some things I'm not going to change, at the age of 64, and having played for some 45 years, not always well.

(I have to credit harp-l here, having been around in the mid-to-late nineties, for having successfully interupted my failure cycles, in teaching me things such as "push the harp deeper into the mouth", "favor a moist mouth and harp, to help seal air passages", etc. I had no idea at that time that moisture had so much to do with sealing the airways, except perhaps intuitively, since after playing for 5-10 minutes, my harps seemed to sound better in tone.)

I also am thankful that after years of reading harp-l, I'm quite aware that it's basically "to each his/her own", when it comes to favored embouchures, styles of play, etc. As the late Ricky Nelson stated, "You can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself". I mean, it's your gig, right? (Though relatively speaking, there ARE "other people" involved,,lol).

I'm just happy that after 64 years, I'm still learning.

Harmonica teachers are somewhat less rigid, for the most part, than, say, martial arts instructors, but still, some teachers are not that flexible, and "insist" on certain approaches. Fair enough, it's that way in martial arts as well. You wouldn't find many Tae Kwan Do instructors, for instance, teaching Aikido as well. But the best instructors are the flexible ones, who adopt the best of every style, to synthesize one that works for them.

Robert, sound of mind, so to speak.

(Hmm,,could be a good name for an album,,"Sound of Mind",,hmm)







---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.
http://www.avast.com