[Harp-L] Harp playing by musicians not considered harmonica players

JOSEPH LEONE 3n037@xxxxx
Tue Jun 2 15:34:00 EDT 2020


One doesn't have to be an exemplary player. All they need to do is fit the situation. 
a.. A person is a singleton. They will be carrying most all of the music in question as a soloist. Maybe with a bit of background. They had better be playing at the 95.594808 percentile. Otherwise they may as well take a one way ticket to Zamboanga. 

b..A person is with an UNKknown group. As long as they fit they feel of the group they can cruise on the laurels OF that group.
91.38367316 percentile should suffice. As long as they contribute to the group and don't detract.

c..A person is with a KNOWN group. As long as they can keep up their playing would be accepted by the audience as part of the complete package. IOW people like the group ANYway and you could get away with 87.358046 percentile.

d..A person who writes (or has specifically written) music just for them and they are the only ones allowed to play/sing it can get away with 83.5098437 percentile. Why? Because 'What's anyone gonna do about it'?

I place Neil Young & Bob Dylan in group d. They play as primitively as needed for the tune. Example? 'Harvest Moon' by Neil Young. How could that tune be nicer? 

Ok, what does it mean to play in the 95.594808 percentile? Take a group of 100 harp players. If you are better than 94 and 4 are better than you, you get a ticket to ride. 

smo-joe  

> On June 1, 2020 at 10:51 AM Ronnie Schreiber <autothreads at xxxxx> wrote:
> 
> 
> I was listening to Those Were The Days, the boxed set of all of Cream's 
> official releases. Their first album in particular has a lot of Jack 
> Bruce's harmonica and Bruce's playing isn't half bad. Sure, he may not 
> have some of the technical chops of full time harp players but his 
> tasteful playing still reflects the fact that he was a world-class musician.
> 
> It seems to me that some harmonica enthusiasts tend to diminish the 
> harmonica playing of musicians like Bruce, Robert Plant, or Mick Jagger, 
> as not serious harmonica players, but it should be pointed out that they 
> were good enough players to blow harp with Cream, Led Zeppelin and the 
> Rolling Stones.
> 
> Ronnie Schreiber
> The Electric Harmonica Co.
> http://www.harmonicaster.com
>


More information about the Harp-L mailing list