It's hard to think of a harp-related issue that hasn't been discussed more than once on this forum, but I don't believe we've directly approached this one: using the harmonica, in performance, as a way of projecting sexuality.
Warning: this thread COULD become X-rated, or at least R-rated, and I encourage the moderators to allow a frank and open exchange.
Of course there's Joe Seneca's famous line in the movie CROSSROADS: "Back where I come from in Mississippi, if you couldn't blow no harp, you didn't get no pussy." (I'm quoting freely from memory, but that's the gist, and the last clause is verbatim.)
There's the impossibly sexualized vocabulary connected with the instrument itself: sucking and blowing. Lip pursing. Tongueing. Flutter your tongue. Ah, yes. Let's get them started young! Seriously, folks: we play the only instrument in which your basic beginners lesson is X-rated.
All of these thoughts were occasioned by the following video of Billy Branch in performance some years ago. He's unafraid of the instrument's torrid sexuality; he's making love to the blonde THROUGH the instrument, and she gets it. Oh boy does she get it. Her boyfriend/husband keeps one hand on her in an effort to calm her down, but it's no use:
Thoughts about all this?
Magic Dick and his lickin' stick, anybody? Sheesh.
Last Edited by on Jul 25, 2011 4:35 AM
There's something to be said for the technique of signifying: hinting strongly at the thing without actually saying it in so many words. Although I appreciate the willingness of my friend from Tennessee not to...ah...beat around the bush, we might all try a little harder not to be quite so....blunt. Or perhaps I should have said, quite so....pointed.
But yes: I too have heard women talk about that.
In fact, an enduring part of harp lore is simply the statement, made with a straight face to an attractive woman who seems to be expressing a willingness to banter: "You know what they say about harmonica players, don't you?"
Alternately, the woman has been known to ask: "Is it true, what they say about harmonica players?"
Paul Oscher would take a wireless (or long-wired) bullet mic, and play face down in the lap of a woman in the audience.
One time, I was playing the William Clarke trick of throwing the mic cord over my head like a lasso while I played 6 draw for a long time. A woman jumped up on stage, got on her knees before me and started rubbing my legs, putting her face to my legs. Then she unbuckled my belt. Then she laughed and jumped off stage. The bandleader said, "Who wants to solo next?"
I don't think this is something that is neccesarily unique to the harmonica, but I agree completely that certain instruments do seem to require an intimacy and syncronicity from their players that finds parralels in the act of lovemaking. Couple this with the communication of emotion and feeling that a player can draw from thier instrument and the level of confidence a good player exudes, and you undoubtedley have a potentially arousing combination (Hell, look at the comments that follow whenever anyone posts a video of a competent female player on here).
Saxophones are almost embraced by their players, in a manner mirroring the body position of a passionate kiss. Rock guitarists use their instrument to express & sate their emotional turmoil before smashing it apart when they;re finished in a musical one-night-stand.
The harmonica is brushed against the lips, it is cupped in the hand, you speak into the instrument to express your emotions, you breathe through it, press your tongue to it, maybe as the emotion heightens you thrust it deeper into your mouth as the excitment builds. A great player can interact with the intrument - making it produce sounds that it was never designed to make,pushing the instrument to be more than it would have been alone. Maybe the harmonica reflects a deeper and more intense relationship than some other instrument, the highs and lows of 2 people pushing to find happiness in a less than perfect world, promising a better life if they can just stay together. . .
. . .or maybe I'm talking a load of bollocks? Please feel free to tell me if you fell that is the case :)
Either way, interesting thread Adam, I look forward to seeing where it goes.
Last Edited by on Jul 25, 2011 5:37 AM
I must play my chrom 64 more, a 3" diatonic just doesn't compare... Yeah I know they tell you size doesn't matter, but I think they're just being kind...
This video is great. Any young man that gets asked why he wants to be a musician should show this video to the asking party and they would have their answer. He owned the room. The young lady was his for the taking. Billy knew it, she knew it, and by the look on his face her boyfriend knew it too. He even threw a little at the big white chick with the mullet!
The Branch clip seems to make one point, the women seem to get going not with the tricks, but when he hits the groove.. and plays just behind it a bit to build tension
My personal brush with this was playing in a duo on a folk radio show back in grad school. The nice looking female announcer (lost on audience, not me) mentioned during our intro that their polling found more people were listening than filled the local concert hall (my mind when holy crap, over 10,000 people), then she introduced me while looking me right in the eye as having the fastest tongue west of the Mississippi.. took all my concentration to hit that intro!
I like to play to a woman in the audience = catch her eye, long sustained note w/out vibrato till 1/2 way through, and then bending down while bending at my knees. If timed right, it has quite an erotic effect. ---------- The Iceman
Seriously... I don't think the BB clip has anything to do with what he's doing with the harp (ignore the kiss pops). It's all in the eyes.
He's a man (spelt M. A. N.) He's not being bashful - he's communicating unambiguously what he wants He's not afraid of HER man He doesn't even blink - he holds that eye contact for an eternity and she LOVES it!
Oh and the words of Jagger spring to mind:
"She was common, flirty, she looked about thirty I would have run away but I was on my own She told me later, she's a machine operator She said she liked the way I held the microphone I said "My, my" like the spider to a fly "Jump right ahead in my web"
Last Edited by on Jul 25, 2011 7:01 AM
You know, the diatonic harp is such an expressive instrument it can really project a profound depth of feeling and emotion. I'm overweight and older than many of the musicians I play with, but every now and then during a performance there'll be a woman dancing in front of or around me (depending upon whether there is a stage or not) while I play as if I were a pagan idol. Or sometimes a woman will bump and grind rubbing herself up against me as i play (which is a distraction, albeit a pleasant one). These situations are certainly not common, but neither are they extremely rare.
Believe me, it has nothing to do with my stage image or animal magnetism or anything like that. It's the emotional power of the music coming out of my instrument.
Harmonica as an instrument has a very distinctive voice which can be very appealing and can evoke a strong emotional response if played reasonably well and if not overdone. You've got to put it in the right spots to make statements that invite these sorts of reactions. It doesn't work if one overplays. And,IMHO it also works best if the player is playing what he feels instead of a canned part. BUT it has to be part of the overall musical motif. It's what is done in relation to the rest of what's going on musically that creates the emotion or sensuality.
I don't know if any of this makes any sense at all. It's hard to describe the dynamics of experiences like this. But to my astonishment, it's happened to me often enough that I kinda sorta have developed some understanding of what was going on as I look back on the occasions when this has happened. But it's certainly not something i can make happen at will. These are definitely interesting experiences, though.
Last Edited by on Jul 25, 2011 7:12 AM
I rarely get any harmonica love from the women. However, I do get a fair amount of attention from the singer perspective.
The band I am in isn't really a harmonica band, nor the kind of band that is much remembered for anything other than throwing a party. I mean, it is way fun and people really like what we are doing, but they are more interested in my guitar player's hair and my schmoozing. I could never pull off something like what Billy is doing in this band, lol.
Playing in this band is pretty weird. It is unlike any of the blues related things I've ever done and the focus is so entirely not the actual music it is borderline annoying. The best guitar player I know, who is in a really popular country coverband says the same thing. Everybody likes you for everything other than the way you play music. They like the songs you play, how you move on stage, how you treat them during set breaks, what you look like, what you wear...but they won't remember sh!t about how you played your instrument.
I actually see this all the time on another forum. Someone will post a clip of their band playing to 300 screaming people while doing a cover of a top 40 tune. The singer can't sing and the band sounds like crap, but everyone is going bonkers because it is an "in" song.
It has gotten to the point where I hardly play any harmonica the last set. There is just no point. The first set always gets a good reaction, but the more people drink, the more inclined I am to just faciliate a party. Don't get me wrong, it is fun, the people are insanely entertaining, and the guys I play with are fantastic, but I am not playing music to make great music. I am playing to make a party. Way different than what I am used to and something I can only take in small doses. ---------- Mike Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas
JoeLee put up a post a little while ago about basic showmanship saying that you can tell when you band is reaching the crowd if the the women are tapping their feet. I think there's something to that.
I am pretty certain that there's nothing so attractive about my appearance, stage image or movement that makes me particularly appealing to the women in the audience. Besides being overweight and older, my movement and stability on my feet is impaired by college football injuries.
Now, I never used to get dramatic reactions from female members of the audience. It never happened to me until a few years ago after my playing had progressed to what i consider to be a higher level than it used to be. I also think that a part of it is that I generally play Black music that is groove oriented, rather than straight ahead rock, pop or C&W. I'm a white guy, but the rhythmic qualities of blues, R&B, reggae and certain kinds of jazz provoke a more visceral/sexual reaction from audiences than music that has more of a straight beat or rhythm and i think this is part of it. Sufficient quantities of alcohol consumed by the audience and a band that can hold those kinds of grooves and stay tight about it also probably also has something to do with it. But it sure ain't my stage image.
Btw, I don't want to seem like I'm bragging since there is no one more surprised than I am when this stuff happens and then happens again at some other gig. Go figure....
EDIT:"...and the level of confidence a good player exudes..." I missed this part of Andy Leys's post. YES, I think this is also a big part of whatever dynamic goes on.
Last Edited by on Jul 25, 2011 10:42 AM
Because of the nature of the harmonica, I feel it is and extension or part of me - not an item of affection. I don't think the imagery comes from the entertainer making love TO his instrument, it is WITH his instrument (to that chick in the audience).
There may be obvious skills involved with playing the harmonica, but the excitement is not what you are doing to the harmonica, it is that the lady in the crowd wonders what it would be like if applied to her, and the intensity in which you apply it.
I think if you "make love" to the instrument, the chicks go home with their boyfriends. If you "make love" to the audience, the chicks go home with you.
---------- Danny
Last Edited by on Jul 25, 2011 9:56 AM
The blond's male companion seems more interested in distracting her than calming her down. From the look in his eye I'd say he felt threatened and puts his hand on her back to signal possession. On the one hand, who could blame him. On the other hand, he could have left her alone till the tune was over then hauled her cute self out to the parking lot knowing foreplay was done. ---------- LSC
@Greyowlphotoart; Staying home and making recordings on your computer is like jacking off. You need to get out and play with a band (at least a jam) if you really want a piece of the action. Or get another laundry job.
I really do admire your playing, though, despite its masturbatory attributes.
There is really nothing dirty about it at all. It's not all about sexuality. That does exist, but that's not the whole goal. It's much simpler than that.
It's about getting and keeping gigs. Here are a few facts.
1. This video was shot in the early 1990's. On any night, you could see a multitude of great bands featuring great musicianship, excellent vocals and engaging performers. As a performer, if you didn't bring people in the door and keep them, you didn't get many gigs.
2. The musical scene in Chicago is highly competitive. On that same night, the audience might have been able to see Otis Rush, Magic Slim, Albert Collins, Junior Wells, James Cotton or a multitude of other great performers right down the street.
3. When a person has a lot of options for entertainment, you've got to make it worth their while. When it's nine below zero outside, you've to give people a reason to leave the comfort of their home to brave the shitty weather and come to see a performance.
This isn't all about sexuality. Sexuality is a tool.
A. It's about extracting people away from their current place and taking them on a musical journey.
B. It's about being engaging and making sure the audience is part of a shared intimate experience.
C. It's about making people in the audience feel like they are special and attendance is appreciated.
D. It's about making people want to come back, have a good time and spend their money.
E. It's about getting them to feel good about the experience and them wanting to come back on another night.
Back to the Billy Branch video. You could write a book on how Billy Branch and Carl Weathersby work an audience.
They interact with the audience. They talk to the audience. They manipulate the emotions of the audience via music. They made their performances intimate by pulling people into their world. It is the creation of a shared experience. It's establishing a relationship that may last no longer than a few moments or it may last years.
The girl in that video was made to feel special. She may have been a tourist from Europe who has never seen Billy again or she may have been a local friend of 30 years. The scene captured in the video was the creation of an intimate shared moment. After this experience, there is a good chance that she'll be back.
Buy the DVD and watch it. Carl Weathersby does quite a bit of the singing. He was the band leader during those days. On the tunes that he's singing, he's in command of the band and the audience. You are a passenger on his airplane. He is the pilot and he is complete control of your journey.
When Billy is fronting the band, Carl is watching him. He knows where Billy is going and he directs the band accordingly.
The instrument that is being played isn't the harmonica or the guitar, it's the mind.
Why do you go see the people that you see?
One last observation, you have to be yourself. Being totally jive and someone you are not doesn't work.
Last Edited by on Jul 25, 2011 12:12 PM
I don't know about the harmonica tbh, it could me very intense in the right hands but having the reverse effect otherwise. The diatonic is probably easier to relate to the electric guitar and the chromatic more to a saxophone with the guitar/diatonic being more intense and rough and the saxophone/chromatic can be more passionate and loving.
In either way, in the right hands any intstrument can become attractive to the opposite sex. Well, maybe not drums haha.
Last Edited by on Jul 25, 2011 11:47 AM
haha. One man's meat is another man's poison though.
On the live playing side I currently play guitar and sing publicly on a weekly basis, but I haven't played harp as yet in a live environment except for once or twice in the past. Admittedly internet playing does not have the same challenge, adrenaline rush, and direct audience feedback of the live performance but it can still present its own set of challenges. I mean some folk would find it easier to play live than sit in front of a camera on their own, hit record and play.
This way of playing has given me a lot of pleasure (wink, wink) and satisfaction(nod,nod) but sure, audience feedback is second hand if you like and restricted to (that was great or that was crap on a comments page) I really do like this as a performance medium though and won't apologise for it.
I have been in harmonica wasteland for many years and it's only in the last couple that I have become as committed and serious as I should perhaps have been in the early years.
The difference and most hugely motivating factor for me was the internet. I stumbled across the likes of Adam, Cristel, Todd Parrot and Paul Lassey and then this Forum.
I wouldn't be playing again now, but for the 'stimulation' of the internet which has rejuvinated my interest. I have learnt more harp related stuff than I could ever have imagined in these past two years and am still learning!
That Laundry reference was an embellishment for the sake of my lame joke:)
Thanks for your back'handed' compliment:)
mmmh Time to post a video on the theme methinks.......
My experience is the opposite of Mike's, which is ironic because he's a million times a better player than I am. I never get comments on what I wear (always a suit, tie and hat), how I move or about the song (originals). I get comments on my playing. But only from guys. And I don't dig guys.
But, we're a female fronted band, and the ladies love our singer for her voice and what she represents. Our songs are written from a woman's perspective (even though the rest of us are men), and on top of it all, we're in BOSTON. NOT a friendly place! ----------
@Greyowlphotoart: For me, the excitement and fulfillment in playing music comes from the interaction and interplay with other musicians during a performance which one does not get playing by one's self.
What do they call it if you just play with yourself?
Last Edited by on Jul 25, 2011 12:11 PM
"Gene, I think the stripper story was from Buzadero." Thank you. I found it!
"...Here we are, whooping it up at a bar on Revelucion Blvd in downtown TJ. Bar band is playing live, tequila and beer are flowing, strippers are working the stage and prowling the tourists. My friends are drinking way too much and I'm working the music thing to the limits of what kind of free alcohol I can get out of it. Good times. I'm like a god among my people.
"Now that you have the picture. Imagine if you will, a stripper with inordinate talent and stagecraft sitting at the edge of the stage........"performing". One of her colleagues is bantering with me right next to the band at the side of the stage. All of a sudden, in what was meant as a playful move, the girl I'm sitting with grabs one of my harps and tosses it to the girl on stage. Everybody starts hooting and howling and.....as only a true performer in command of her audience can do.....causes my harp to slowly "disappear". As you can imagine, this flairful and truly dexterous move elicited significant audience response. As much as the place erupted in applause, I got slapped on the back as if I was somehow part of the heroics. I wasn't pleased. Especially, when our entertainer proceeded to stand up and continue on with her "routine". She finished up and soon another girl was taking her turn in rotation on stage. At the time, I was pissed off. Harps were cheap, but not that cheap. And, like now, every one had its own personality and emotional attachment.
"I didn't see that harp again until about a half an hour later. The little magician went back up to do another round and was able, to much fanfare and applause, to very dramatically and methodically produced my poor harp and toss it to me.
"I still have that silly thing. However, I have never played it since...."
I believe that constitutes "using harp to project sexuality. :)
Last Edited by on Jul 25, 2011 12:30 PM
I also have spent quite a deal of time playing music to back up burlesque dancers and sometimes they'll put the musicians in the act.
And at one gig a very attractive woman jumped on stage with a Little Lady harp around her neck and ordered me to play it. There was no other way than to get real close.
Joe Lee: You keep saying that you have got to be yourself or the audience won't dig it. I disagree. I have played in many bands where there is theatre involved and I play a full show "in character". Audiences love it.
Joe Lee ain't me. I'm just sharing my observations. If being someone other than yourself works for you, that's great.
There's an interesting podcast on itunes about Blues sponsored Gibson guitar by Carl Weathersby. It's called "Gibson Summer Jam 2007 Carl Weathersby Words And Music Clinic." He talks about music, Blues and how he got his start.
Back in the day i was often asked if they could blow my organ (by women)lol also had the panty throwing thing.....the singer did the rest of the gig wearing them on his head!!
Little Walter played an instrumental called "Shake Dancer." A shake dancer is a woman who lowers herself slowly as she dances and, in particular, shakes her ---s in your face. Hips, too.
Here's Mark Bukich covering the song. Many musicians, and a few harp players, have put in time backing up shake dancers:
The shimmy is a dance named after the pronunciation of the French word "chemise," meaning "shirt." A shimmy is a dance in which the woman slowly shakes off her shirt. Again: a blues dance. The shimmy she wobble is a variant.
I'm not making this stuff up. Jazz also has a bawdy-house tang to it. Jelly Roll Morton singing "Wining Boy," etc.
Great thread! but one question...will it make my playing more sexy if I watch erotic videos while I practice?
A lady did write my nickname across her chest with a Sharpie and flashed me while I was sitting in with a band. Turned out my buddies knew her and put her up to it. Still fun. I held it together.
Blues Dance lesson: "the pulse." The slacker version of what used to be called "the slow drag"--when black folks did it in the logging camps of Polk County, Florida.
This could be the end of blues dancing as we know it. I don't think that Bessie Smith used the word "transcend" to speak about her moves:
Then again, white folks were making fools out of themselves in precisely the same way back in the 1920s:
This is a repeat of a "war story" post I made a while ago in this forum. I thought it derserved a new life with this topic.
So, let me take you back... to the early 1990s. Two year gig at one club, every weekend, in our small town. Bass, piano, guitar, drum machine, and me on harp. Enthusiastic dancers every night, the kind of gig I love. A dancing audience beats a listening audience every time. But, I digress.
Here's what happened one Saturday night.
The dance floor was packed. We played on a small stage, two feet above the dancers, barely room for us and the equipment.
I was taking a solo. As I usually did when I got a solo, I stood on the lip of the stage, head back, eyes closed; getting into it. Suddenly something grabbed that valuable portion of my anatomy above my knees and below my belly button. An unplanned note flew out of my harp. I opened my eyes and found a woman's hand where it shouldn't be. Its owner continued dancing and looking at her dance partner; quite the trick.
I slapped her hand away and continued my solo. She noticed neither the grab nor the release, or, if she did, wasn't letting on. Did I mention this club served alcohol?
The guitarist and bass player couldn't stop laughing. The piano player did his best to get through the song; he had to, he was the singer. It was towards the end of the set; we ended quickly, took our break and joked about what happened, as musicians do when everything is going well.
Later, I thought about the inescapable differences between males and females in matters like this. The whole incident was a lark to me. But turn the actors around (female harp player, overenthusiastic male fan) and that fan would quickly be carted off to jail, facing a charge of sexual assault. I understand that. But I hadn't the slightest intention of charging this drunk fan. Truth be told, I was proud I had inspired her to show her appreciation of my music in such a dramatic fasion. If only my wife were as understanding.
When asked about what part of my performance my girlfriend likes the best she never hesitates to reply "The harp" and every time she says it she gets that 'look' in her eye.
If I had to guess I would bet that the "boyfriend" in the Branch video benefited a bit from that performance as well later hahaha
And I must admit the harp has never failed to pop the crowd. Maybe cause I only break it out for a few songs. But of all the things I can play I get more comments about the harp than anything else.
There is just something about that little piece of metal that even when folks may think its a toy when played in the right context even for them will come alive.
if only they really knew what we could do with our tongues....
"You can kiss and lick, tickle and tease But honey watch that grip, when you squeeze It’s alright to nibble, baby please don’t bite You can squeeze me honey but please don’t you squeeze too tight"
if only they really knew what we could do with our tongues....
"You can kiss and lick, tickle and tease But honey watch that grip, when you squeeze It’s alright to nibble, baby please don’t bite You can squeeze me honey but please don’t you squeeze too tight"
You can't front it off...nobody can. If you have natural sexuality, it will project and the women will know it and eat you up. If you are a geek or a chump boy, that will also project and the women will know that too. You can't fool women. They been raised since they were 11 years old by their mamas preaching about crawling kingsnakes. They want to crawl too, but not with a geek or a chump boy. Joe Lee ---------- "A man who will not FORCE himself to rise above his circumstances is doomed to a life of mediocrity"....Ty Cobb
