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

[Mike Wilbur <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Save the Licorice Stick !

Mike Wilbur


> On Oct 29, 2014, at 4:30 PM, Michael Rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> 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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