Have a look at this 2 1/2 minute video. I`m in the last half minute. Watch the whole video, though, to get a feel for my home in Northwest Canada. Forget harmonica as you watch; my favorite part of this video is the face-painted girl's beautiful smile at the 1:20 mark.
Bending on Chromatic MBH members talk once in a while about bending on chromatic. I do it. Not a deep bend, but enough to shape, even caress, a note since I can't/don't play fast. I hope you can hear it in this video.
Facial Expressions This video was made and edited by our local newspaper. I didn't know I was being video'd. Just as well, because I would have been self-conscious had I known. The result is an audio/video of me playing from my heart, including the facial expressions that accompany this.
Alcohol Hands up-- Who plays better with (some) alcohol in their system? I do. It brings out the passion in me. At the Intertidal Music Festival, I'd consumed three glasses of wine in the 90 minutes preceding this performance.
Cheers,
wolf kristiansen
p.s. For the gearheads, my equipment for this gig was a Shure 520DX played through a '95 Fender Blues Deluxe with two 10 inch speakers and some old tubes scrounged from other amplifiers.
Thanks Wolf. It was good to see the video. I don’t know if I play better with alcohol. Sometimes I know I play more poorly than I would have had I not imbibed, and usually that means I had enough to make my tongue less coordinated. It doesn’t take a lot to do that. I expect it does loosen me up in other ways which are potentially positive, so probably a fine balance could be found,
Ironically I never made any sort of real progress in learning harp until I sobered for good. I was incapable of learning what I needed until my mind cleared up. But! Each their own. Nice Wolf! ----------
MSM shot/produced/edited video used in stories about harmonica...folks producing these videos for airplay will focus on silly faces made by harmonica players. Back in the day, it was "the little midget playing the big harmonica" focus...
These are visual orientated editors....they could care less about the music or musicality of the harmonica...that doesn't "sell" to their public as much as the visual "humor' they see in a close up of a funny face made while playing, so that is their focus.
(I learned about this media approach when I handled all the SPAH publicity for their conventions for 4 years back in the late 90's). ---------- The Iceman
The imbibing of alcohol elevates my playing, makes me vastly more charming, and sharpens my driving skills.
If I really do it right, I become a very perceptive lifecoach more than willing to help you identify your shortcomings and assist with your personal growth.
---------- ~Buzadero Underwater Janitor, Patriot MBH poseur since 11Nov2008
I don't know if alcohol makes me play better, but i know that playing the harmonica makes me thirsty.
As for bending on chromatic's I only started playing around with them recently, but i think the better the harp the easier they bend, I get some pretty good bends on a Seydel Saxony, deeper than I would have expected.
Now to put a harp in one hand, a beer in the other and see which I put in my mouth first.
"The imbibing of alcohol elevates my playing, makes me vastly more charming, and sharpens my driving skills.
If I really do it right, I become a very perceptive lifecoach more than willing to help you identify your shortcomings and assist with your personal growth." _
I've sat within earshot of you in more than one bar . . .
Last Edited by johnleewfan on Aug 17, 2018 10:53 AM
Such a nice, happy crowd in the video, thanks for sharing. Your chro work is wonderful. I didn't even notice any facial expressions out of the norm though I know I make them when playing or listening to my friends' solos when sharing the stage, sort of an extension of dancing.
I used to drink but stopped one year, 11 months, one week and four hours ago, but who's counting? I, too, noticed my mouth/tongue control was not as good as it could've been when drinking booze and weed gives my cotton-mouth. So, it is Gatorade for me, for a few reasons.
Many years ago I bought nine different keys of 12-hole Hering chromatics from F&R Farrell, great harps to this day. They've allowed me to bend freely, all 9 harps/keys. I find this especially great as I tend to play starting slide-in a lot. For instance, if the band is in C I use an A chromatic, slide in. Many possiblities came to me over the years playing this way and that position combined with bending is a win/win situation for me. So, I play a harp that is in the key of the relative minor of that band's key, with slide in. However, that is not good for all ways of playing chro harp so it has been my happy undertaking of learning the blow/draw patterns for scales on the chro. That and the pursuit of mastering ob/ods since January of this year has helped me keep my head out of the mash barrel. MY life has purpose, I propose, now more than ever. I ain't gettin' any younger,that's for sure. I started playing along to Butterfield's Driftin' Blues [Woodstock version] around 1973. It was the one cut that really got to me and still does. Soooo happy for my fellow Mainer, Jason Ricci, my dear friend from way back. Butter would approve of Jason, no question.
Regarding facial expressions, you ought to have seen me learning and now playing the 1-hole ob on a G diatonic! Ha !!! I may've developed a hernia learning ob/ods, too, not so great. Anybody else heard of the latter ailment being related to harp?
My motto for many years was "everything in moderation, ESPECIALLY moderation." Well, I'm harpier now, I mean happier now. No more empties and three Spiers Stage 2+ harps better for it.
Cheers !!!
Last Edited by ROBERT TEMPLE II on Aug 17, 2018 1:51 PM
That's some lovely chrom playing Wolf! Looks like a great event - I've always been interested in the native cultures of the Pacific North-West, the wood carving, etc. Looks like there was some traditionsl dacing going on there.
As to drinking when playing - I always think a couple of drinks helps to loosen me up and relax into the music - but it is the law of diminishing returns! I know a lot of singers say alcohol dries the throat out - but I think it opens out and deepens my voice. ---------- Harpeaux Edwards
