Re: Standardizing Skill Levels



On Jun 11, 2004, at 11:11 AM, Ken Wolman wrote:

> I have played the clarinet off and on since I was about 9 years old. 
> I'm not 9 years old anymore.  I sucked then and I suck now.  But 
> "suck" is a relative term.  It means I'm not going to replace Stanley 
> Drucker, the principal clarinetist of the NY Philharmonic, if the guy 
> ever retires.  I can make nice noises on the horn if not professional 
> ones.

  I started at 16, (when I dropped harmonica). My sound was roughly 
Acker Bilk. (Note word ROUGHLY).

> Extrapolation: playing the harmonica is playing a musical instrument. 
> Really.  Duh.  I didn't get that until I picked it up again, or really 
> picked it up for the first time since I was a kid.  I've mentioned the 
> one-buck Marine Band I had when I was a kid, the one I disassembled 
> and couldn't put back together again.  Blat, blat, honk, screw it.  No 
> lessons, just blowing into it five notes at a time because NOBODY 
> SHOWED ME WHAT THE HELL TO DO.  So I threw it out.

  Mine was run over by a street-car.
>
> I got the idea that this is a musical instrument when I got a 
> chromatic.  Hey, this is HARD.  Breath control, finger/tongue/lip 
> coordination. Learning where the notes are.  In fact this is a bitch.  
> And not all chroms are created equal or at least the same for 
> everyone.  You accumulate enough of the things to help wreck your 
> credit, you figure out that a Suzuki is not a Hohner Adler model is 
> not a Huang is not a Hering.  If someone dies and leaves me money I'll 
> get a Renaissance, assuming I can play it.

  I am not worthy f one of THOSE.
>
> What got me to start at age 60?

  I "came back" at 41 (I'm 61 now)

>   Hearing another free-reed, the bandoneon, especially when played in 
> New York last November by a virtuoso tango musician named Raul 
> Jaurena.

  Probably the best (right now)

>   Now, I can't afford a bandoneon.  Hell, I can't afford to LOOK at a 
> bandoneon.  Besides, they're all in dealerships in Montevideo or 
> Buenos Aires: Sam Ash doesn't have these.  Hohner used to make some of 
> the most prized bandoneons around.  So what's the nearest?

  Bandoneons (I think) have different tones on the blow & draw?  They 
are murder to learn. I gave away a 120 bass. Nothing wrong with it, 
just to heavy. I currently have a Cajun Diatonic. Very VERY limited for 
what I want to do. I'll probably wind up giving it away.

>   The accordion is too expensive, the concertina made me think of 
> sailors with parrots on their shoulders, but there's the harmonica 
> classified as a free reed instrument, and there's the great TA-DA!  
> Ta-da my tuchis.  My first one is an Adler/Hohner 12-hole.  I sound 
> like crap, not like Larry Adler who sounds better dead than I could 
> hope to while I'm still upright.
>
> Who teaches harp or "mouth organ"?  In my part of Jersey one guy, 
> Dennis Gruenling.

  Don't know if Denny plays chromatic. I imagine he does?

>   That appears to be it.  I want someone to stand in front of me and 
> say "You're holding your mouth like a freakin' guppy, puckering should 
> look like THIS" and make me follow him or her.

  Well the PROPER approach would be for the teacher to "Suggest" things 
and be flexible as some things come easier to some people and some 
don't come at ALL. The students method may work just fine for them 
(individually) and unless it will completely KILL the technique or 
skill, the teacher shouldn't be too severe or demanding or "Make" this 
or that.

>   I want someone to stand in front of me and say the same thing when 
> it comes to tongue blocking, because I'm sorry, but I haven't seen a 
> diagram of tongue blocking yet that didn't look like it was drawn by 
> someone who washed out of art school.  If I'm going to slobber into my 
> harp and glom up the reeds I'd like to know I'm doing more than 
> looking like my dog while I'm STILL blowing 8 notes at once.

  The problem 'I' always had was that while I was trying to show someone 
something, they were yapping away and I felt their attention span was 
compromised by their great (thank God) zeal. In any case, this is where 
a teacher has to take "Gentle" control. Since I was never a very pushy 
person, I hate to cut someone's legs out from under them.
>
> I got invited to a man's house back in March, he's the President of 
> the Pt. Pleasant Harmonica Club.  Some of you probably know him if 
> you're in Jersey.  Nice old guy, and I mean that.  A collection of 
> harmonicas of both species that I wanted to steal.  But he couldn't 
> TEACH me.  He didn't stand facing me and tell me what my mouth looked 
> like.  He gave me the equivalent of the Carnegie Hall advice: 
> "Practice, practice." Well, if I keep doing the right thing the wrong 
> way, I'm going to keep on playing like shit, and at age 60 I'm too old 
> to want to do that.

  I know exactly what you mean. Down here we have a harmonica club which 
is mostly geriatric. There are some fairly good players, but no there 
GRABS you. I hesitate to try and correct anyone because they are all 
older than me and I feel funny about it. Just like I would feel funny 
taking lessons from someone WAY younger than me. Especially when it is 
'I' who should have known these techniques long ago.

>   In other words, to go back to Joe (remember him?), I need a 
> foundation, and nobody out there seems to be around to help provide 
> it.

  Believe me, if I was in Forked River or Tuckerton, we would HAVE to be 
getting together. ........ :)        smo-joe
>
> I'll wax your car if you will help with that foundation...wax on, wax 
> off....
>
> Ken
>
> -- 
> Kenneth Wolman
> Proposal Development Department
> Room SW334
> Sarnoff Corporation
> 609-734-2538
>
>





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