Subject: Re: [Harp-L] questions about high keyed harps/Also SPAH



I should have responded to this thread before, but was unable to  for various 
reasons...
 
I understand about the 'family' connection of some of the songs (many of  
which I don't know either)...although of course I do know the more basic  
well-known 'Oh Susannah', Comin' Round the Mountain, When the Saints, This  Train, 
etc.  What I found interesting each time I've gone  to Buckeye was the vast 
number of songs I simply found unrecognizable which  every other harmonica player 
seemed to know (chromatic and diatonic), and  eventually came to think of as 
'regional' music from the mid-west. Perhaps it's  my non-American 
background..having my musical education begin only with 1960's  New York R&B and Pop music 
on....
 
...actually, that's what I intended by saying I've absorbed 100's of songs  
by 'osmosis'. I really did mean that I 'knew' those songs.  Meaning music,  
lyrics (mostly) and being able to immediately recognize and play the entire  
melody, background and beat even without having heard the song in years.  I  seem 
to actually 'know' thousands of songs, to be completely factual.   Several 
people have remarked on it.  But I can't be unique...somehow, I  think a song 
which impresses itself on our brain-computers gets stored,  eventually to pop out 
when needed. Remember too, I don't play background or  'fill'...never worked 
on memorizing 'riffs'. I play the actual song as if I  was the vocalist (as 
most chromatic players tend to do too), as well as piano  players. Also...the 
older we get, I think the more songs we 'store'  <G>...no wonder some of the 
much older players at the conventions seem to  know far more songs than anyone 
else.
 
 However, since harmony and going 'off' on tangents was always a huge  part 
of my musical enjoyment, I've been working towards improv-ing over and  playing 
background lately....which is why I'm so taken with the kind of playing  
SmoJoe and other jazz harmonica players like him do, hoping they'll teach  me.  
That ability to riff on a song, taking off into the stratosphere while  never 
(or almost never) ;) losing the original thread, stuns me. I can do it to  a 
degree on a keyboard (and then only with the right hand), but not yet on a  
chromatic.
 
But...since hanging out at the conventions, participating in and listening  
in to so many 'sing/play-alongs', I now hear a lot more of the connections  
....where one song (mostly those with folk origins) ...has so many similarities  
(that 'family' connection you talk about) with others.  So, even at this  past 
Spah I found myself able to play along with songs I hadn't know before  in a 
group setting ...adding a little bit here and there...easily able to  tell 
where the song was headed.  
 
It's convinced me that anyone who can possibly scrape the funds together  and 
are even remotely unsure of their playing skills/level...should try to  
attend any convention...SPAH if it's at all possible if it's in your neck of the  
woods, and even for a day or two if you can't stay for the entire time.   It's 
an incredible experience and you'll never forget it.  Those  taking individual 
lessons will learn more by listening in than you will in hours  of 
instruction, and it will definitely enhance and crystallize  whatever you're being 
taught. The people who attend, the level of play..the  wonderful camaraderie 
between players of all ages...is just something I wish  everyone could 
experience....the Filisko teach-ins in a huge room where you  can roam from table to table 
picking up whatever you want to know from so many  skilled 
players/teachers/customizers are worth the price of admission by  themselves. Can you imagine 
Peter 'MadCat' Ruth holding forth at a teach-in  table, answering questions?
 
Next to last night (Friday), I was taping in the lobby where Will Galison  on 
guitar, Brendan Power, Steve Baker, Richard Sleigh, Doug Tanner ....Chris  
Michalek, so many other people whose names I'm blanking, don't yet have or  
simply can't remember until I take another look at my tapes ....were jamming  
until the wee hours...the small group of 'young-at-harp' players came in to  
listen. I later saw Brendan over with them, talking  harmonica...then playing for 
and with them.  Where else on earth  could/would this ever happen?  There were 
some 'big names' there, yet no  one played *Star*...everyone was equal, just 
jamming and having an absolute  blast. 
 
Today was my scheduled surgery day, now postponed. Hopefully I can now get  
to work on the dvd's I promised the people participating. Apologies for my  
tardiness and inability to do anything before this.
 
Elizabeth
 
Message: 8
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:09:26 +1000
From: "Rick  Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Subject: Re:  [Harp-L] Re: questions about high keyed
harps
To:  <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>, "Dan Berger"  <dberger1@xxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID:  <48D922C6.7C8A.0066.0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain;  charset=US-ASCII

Didn't really take off as a topic though did it? I know  what you mean about 
the songs you thought everyone knew. I've been running  regular harp classes 
for the state adult ed. school for nearly ten years, and  I'm starting to get 
people who don't know 'Oh Susannah', 'Old Folks at Home'  etc. etc.....and I'm 
not just talking about Indians, Asians etc (who, oddly  enough, are more 
likely to know them)
I've been thinking about starting a  list of 'song/tune families'; if I get 
there, I'll post it. 

>>>  "Dan Berger" <dberger1@xxxxxxxxxx> 20/09/2008 6:51 >>>
Aren't  there really a limited number of songs
that are the roots of  all the  others?  Like hollywood only having 7 types 
of plots for  movies.

Good example from this list:

"My Babe" is really "This  train am bound for glory"

Good list! but I find the older I get the less  others know
what I thought were songs every kid used to  know.

Dan
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rick Dempster"  <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <EGS1217@xxxxxxx>; "Gary Popenoe"  <gpopenoe@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Harp-L" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent:  Thursday, September 18, 2008 8:45 PM
Subject: Re: Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re:  questions about high keyed harps


> Now that's a topic worthy of  further discussion, Gary.
> I deliberately teach students tunes that have  extended families.
> Here's a good one:
>
> When the Saints Go  Marching In
> Thirty Days
> Mama don't allow
> This train am  bound for glory
> I'll be glad when you're dead you rascal you
>  She'll be comin' round the mountain
> Crawdad hole
> My Babe
>  Caroline (Tell me where you sleep last night)
> ....and you can find  plenty more that fit that category.
>
> Maybe some suggestions of  other 'family group' songs?
>
> RD
>
>>>> Gary  Popenoe <gpopenoe@xxxxxxxxx> 18/09/2008 21:13 >>>
> You  know, there is a pattern language of western contemporary songs.
> It  always seems to me that, if you learn one song, you've learned most
> of  several others.
>
> It is to the point where I, and I'm sure others,  can play along wth
> tunes we have never heard and appear to the listener  as if we know the
> song.
>
> I was once was in Fiji and had  an opportunity to jump in on a tune
> with some local players. I had never  heard the song but felt I could
> handle it. I failed. Soon the guys were  calling the changes to me.
>
> Their standard progression  changes/song structure are different  than
> western popular music. I  couldn't anticipate where their songs were
> going to   go.
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Sep 17, 2008,  at 3:53 PM, EGS1217@xxxxxxx wrote:
>
>> Gary Popenoe writes  (snipped):
>>
>> "Singing is the closest technique I have  found to playing harmonica.
>> The main difference is that my vocal  chords are  out there just in
>> front of my  teeth."
>>
>> ...that's a great way to put it...and how I  always think of playing
>> harmonica too. To me it's always about 'the  song' (even if it's an
>> instrumental - in that case I simply think  the melody), but always I
>> sing the song in my head while using the  harmonica to convey it
>> instead of my voice, which means, of  course..that I have to know the
>> song before I can play it well, but  that's fine since I seem to know
>> hundreds upon hundreds of songs I  hadn't  before realized I knew.
>> Must have just absorbed them by  osmosis. :)
>>
>>
>> Elizabeth






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