Re: [Harp-L] Sometimes ....

[Michael Rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>]

No clarinet in modern music?  You must live up North.
Michael Rubin
michaelrubinharmonica.com

On Wed, Oct 29, 2014 at 3:20 PM, Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> One thing I know for sure: whenever anybody says "FX do some very cool
> things," a lot of people can be counted on to say "I sound just fine
> without 'em."
>
> To me that's missing the point.  Of course harp without FX sounds fine.
> So does guitar.  And keys.  And all the other instruments where the players
> are lots more adventurous with their sounds than harp players.  And getting
> a lot more work, too, as a rule.
>
> Clarinet without FX sounds fine, too.  At one time it was a very prominent
> instrument in the popular music of its day--that is, the 1930s-40s. The
> records made in those days still sound great, but they don't sound much
> like what the public is paying to listen to now.  I can't recall the last
> time I heard a band in any--I repeat, any--style featuring clarinet.  Why
> not?  It still sounds fine.  But it doesn't sound like now.
>
> I would prefer not to see the instrument I have loved for close to 50
> years go the way of the clarinet.  To that end, I intend to keep pushing
> the boundaries of the instrument itself and the gear I use to make it loud
> and proud.  I won't accept limits on the sounds I can make with a
> harmonica, anymore than I would with any other instrument.  If I need to
> add something to the sound to make it bigger/wider/wilder/wierder, I will.
> If I played the clarinet, I'd damn sure be running that through a pitch
> shifter, a delay, and a wah-wah too, not because clarinet doesn't sound
> good, but because I have no intention of getting left behind while everyone
> else in the world gets to make the sounds of modern music.
>
> Of course, some people just don't much like modern music.  There's no
> argument there; what you like is what you like.  But I'd rather try to
> redefine it on my terms than pretend it's not there.
>
> FYI, I played today to an audience in Sao Paolo, Brazil, with chromatic
> jazz harmonica virtuoso Wim Dijkgraaf.  Both of us played acoustic harp--me
> a Lee Oskar Natural Minor, Wim a Hohner CX12--through the same mic on
> "Comin' Home Baby."  It was great; I'll see about posting my recording of
> it to my website later this week. That said, Wim told me he picked up a
> Digitech RP355, and I'm sending him my patchset right after I write this
> message.  He doesn't need an RP to sound good.  He wants an RP so he can
> sound different when he wants to.  Is that a problem?  Not for me.
>
> Regards, Richard Hunter
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