As an intermediate whatever player, I have posted a few videos of my playing. Some a couple years back that I look at now and remember how good I thought it was at the time. Some more recent that have brought feedback that has been very helpful to me. I appreciate when someone takes the time to watch a video and share their thoughts. It doesn't matter if it is one of you guys that gigs regular or a raw beginner. Always something to learn from feedback. We are all qualified to comment if the video is posted for all to see.
I try to return the favor and comment on other players stuff when I can. It is a big deal for newer players to post a video. Takes some guts, they deserve a response if they are sincere.
I respect those of all levels that do not care to post videos and/or comment on someone elses. Many of you do not need a positive reinforcement from your peers the way newer players do.
What I disagree with and I won't name names.... are those that post a video of themselves once in awhile with hopes of feedback,praise, or want to be heard, yet never post a word for another up and comer...and really never post anything else on other threads either.
What if we all just posted videos of our playing and never commented on anything else? Plenty of great music I'm sure...but that would be it.
Since I have started teaching some out of my home, I have discovered that I learn a lot from the students. They want to play and be heard. They want to show me they worked on those drills. They need positive feedback and deserve it for their efforts.
If you are one that belongs to the forum just to post your stuff for others to enjoy..I'm sorry..I don't get it.
Last Edited by on Sep 03, 2011 8:14 AM
Well, I like those Hs.. though I don't really get their reasons why they never post much but most of the time I enjoy their clips. Whatever you don't like about people here if they don't do anything wrong I've found that it's always better to keep it to yourself than to speak it out, just like this thread for example, make less inspiration than those vids.
face it, dude, our society is mainly a "me first" mentality. and most of those folks dont even realize they are like that. but when you break the society into smaller groups, such as towns or forums, that mentality slowly gets replaced with a sense of community. folks start to care about each other and are interested in others. they have a common interest or goal. but not everyone is going to be converted and some might take a very long time to come around. just my thoughts.
Yes eharp I agree with your post. You nailed it! I don't like it and try to live my life in a way that I can help people rather than post about it trying to prove something. Now HarpDude is right about people posting for there benifit as apposed to really trying to help! Thats kind of the way real life is to tough. The stuff you don't like leave it alone. Concentrate on the good stuff! There will always be good stuff and bad stuff. My grandfather use to say don't make me no nevermind!
Silpakorn..didn't mean to make it sound like they did anything wrong... I guess everyone is not into the chatty scene anyway...
I just enjoy being here, being supported, and being supportive. I think the more better harmonica players we have, the better off we all are. Who knows.....maybe some kid from this forum could be the kid that takes harmonica to another level and makes it a household word like LW did with Juke...
I haven't posted anything with my playing yet, but I can also tell you why I don't post a lot of responses to other members posting their playing:
I'd like to be able to say more than "I liked that!" or "good job!" because with repetition, or misunderstanding of text vs. speech, it can come across as cliche, trite, or even insincere to me, if that's all you get out of a person, especially over a few times. It comes across to me as a reply more for the sake of replying, than anything else. As you note, a beginner or first timer is looking for feedback (as well as compliments) but I'm hardly qualified to accurately express why I may have liked it with proper harp vocabulary. And sometimes, when I have a choice of shuttin' up, vs. inserting my foot in my mouth, I choose the safer side of shutting up.
Doesn't mean I don't see and appreciate the posts here, but I don't know that I can verbally articulate further than "nice tune" or whatnot. Maybe that's all that's needed, and nobody else sees it like I do. If so, I'll work on chiming in a bit more.
Especially when someone post something on the forum that was posted and talked about extensively only hours or a day before and both threads are sitting side by side...
I used to be a moderator on a poetry site. The same thing happened. Some people would post tons of poems but never comment on anyone else's (and poets are a different breed than harp players- harp players seem to be timid about starting to post clips of themselves playing; everyone who can type thinks they are a poet! Oh the horrors I have read). There was a small core of us who'd go through and try to make some remark on everything so newcomers didn't get frustrated. If you watch 1st and 2nd graders playing soccer you see them all abandon their positions to swarm the ball. As they get older they get better at it. I don't know if it's relevant, but it always seemed to be the 'creative', 'musical', or 'artistic' kids that were the last ones to figure it out. :)
But it's more than just that. Critique is a hard thing to do well. When you get to the stage where you don't swarm the ball that doesn't mean you automatically know how to play a position.
I find that by the time a lot of people get the courage to post their playing on here they are at the point where I have to listen a bunch of times to come up with something more than, 'Cool'. It's frustratingly hard to critique someone better than you when you know they are going to read the comment. I can say I'm not fond of Eric Clapton. He won't read this. And sometimes all I've got is, 'Cool'. At least it let's people know I watched it; it's the forum's version of a 'Like' button.
Some people on here I just like watching and it's my way to let them know I want more videos, even if I fall behind on my viewing.
So, how do you get more critique? Remember to specifically ask for it. Some people lay back unless you specifically say you want honesty not just praise. If you have a specific question people are more likely to respond. Post on other peoples' videos. Embed instead of link. Don't be afraid to bump your post once; a lot of people surf at work and may not be able to give a listen there and once something falls of the front page most people won't see it. If someone does comment, thank them and ask follow-up questions. And of course, enter the BYBO!
This is interesting!! i posted a video months ago and got zero comments!! now i posted it to see if people heard it the same as me, as i am probably my own worse critic! now i am not too bothered if people gave negative criticism but to get no comments i did not know whether this was good or bad!! now i played with bands for 12 years! but since returning to the harp i realize my unaccompanied playing seems a lot harder than playing with a band!!! but that is another story to debate. oh and i always try and comment on videos i enjoy.
One of my pet peeves is that people aren't required to have public emails. This lets them post anonymously. This is the worst when they make accusations against some one and they disappear into the net.
Another is when people say I play this and that and do this but they don't post examples.
---------- Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind How you doin'
Another thing I've noticed is different people contribute in different ways. Back in the 'Time of Troubles' when it seemed like we were having a blowout a day some people lost their minds and went crazy. Other members were there to try to calm them down, each in their own way. Tooka would chime in with a BYOB challenge, Diggs would post the most serene harp video you'd ever heard. GH would call for civility. Adam would come in with some when composed words. I guess I'm trying to say that there are a lot of people contribute in a lot of different ways. Some people track down information. Some people try to inject some humor. Others spend hours getting a video just right.
Diggs, yeah, anonymity is the great bugaboo of the internet. There are times when it's important. It lets you register complaints without fear of retaliation. On the harmonica forum maybe it gives beginners a little more courage to chime in, but my feeling is people should decide if they need anonymity on a harp forum and if they don't, come out of the woodshed, as it were. But each person knows their own circumstance better than we do, so we leave it as a personal choice. And when someone abuses the forum, anonymously or on the record we whack 'em on the head and break all their reeds and banish them from the forum. Sometimes people try sneaking back onto the forum, but the truth is the sort of person who stages the hit and run attacks is a fidgety sort. They seem to almost immediately go back to the same behavior and get booted again. Or brag about it on another harp forum. Or reregister with such an obvious pseudonym that they get bounced before they get in. I've also noticed that people with a lot of posts start to identify with their handle. Sure, you may not know their real name, but they're name here is important enough to them that they (we) treat it like a reputation. As far as the community is concerned that's them. :)
The posting examples thing... yeah, that's always tough. If you don't have something handy it means making a recording. What drives me nuts in particular (even although newbies don't know better) is when someone is having a problem with one of their harps and they say something like '3 hole won't work, how do I fix it?' I wish I could code an app... there would be a big button on the site. You push it and that would record 30 seconds of sound (and video if available) and then auto post it with your question, what harp it is and how long you've been playing. I'm no master harp repairman, but with a clip like that I could probably diagnose 90%+ of all harp problems. A FAQ with some links to videos. And I understand why they post them. It's frustrating when your harp isn't working and you don't know why. (I tried to get a thread started the other day with samples of broken harps. I only have a couple. I was going to record them the next day but the thread had already disappeared from the front page, so I decided there didn't seem to be much interest.)
