A good friend of mine told me that he's playing in the Florida Harmonica Championships this Sunday (Oct 16th) at the Beachside Tavern in New Smyrna Beach.
Sounds like it would be a good time !
Wish I could go, but I'm stuck up here near Cleveland, Ohio.
I was there to see Lee Oskar, who I haven't seen for about 9 years, as well as some of my students from when I lived in FL. That part was fun, as was seeing Ed Coogan and Pixee, who did a solo set with balloon and harmonica.
The winner was Nico, from France, who played masterfully and with excellent tone. He had enough force of will and presence to actually reign in the back up band a little bit.
As I stated in another post, the promoters probably have their heart in the right place, but the back up band they use doesn't allow the harmonica players to breathe. For whatever reason, this band is unable to pick up cues, such as when to come in, when NOT to play and how to end songs. They also play TOO LOUD ALL THE TIME. The best thing that they can do for future events is hire a band that understands how to play behind a harmonica player, like a Doug Demming and the Jeweltones. ---------- The Iceman
@AirMojo-it went ok-the power completley shut off near the end of my set-I felt it was a disadvatange for sure. I was not at my best-I ran a 5K race late night,just before the Championship-I was tired for sure,but gave it my best. I will not be returning-the band was WAY too loud,and never got in the groove. I did meet a lot of nice people-Nico was impressed with my chromatic playing,which gave me a little lift after a long,hot bummer of a day. I also met Tom Halchak {florida-trader,aka bluemoon harps}-he was showing me some killer never played pre-war and mouse ear Marine band harps. Pix-E was a blast!! I did not meet him,but I did watch him play-the balloon trick was cool! All in all,it was ok-I left after RJ Harman played-long drive home,but i was glad to get there.
I have a CD "Nico and Friends, C'est Si Bon" with Nico Toussaint, and he has a monstrous tone, and that's at least several years ago. Awesome blues harp player for sure
Pix-E learned that balloon-harp from watching Bernie Bray years ago at a SPAH convention, and probably has it perfected over all these years. He's pretty versatile in lots of music styles and different harmonicas too.
I believe those that were "instrumental" in putting this event on do read this list and the comments about the show.
From what I saw, each contestant was able to play 2 songs. Some played two 5 minute songs, some played two 15 minute songs. That woman who competed seemed to play for an hour (at least it felt like that to me).
The promoters may want to consider a tighter reign on duration of tunes, perhaps offering a hand signal to wrap it up or the plug will be pulled. A lot of the performers did their singing, played a solo for a chorus or two, then pointed to keyboard player to play a solo for a chorus or two, then to the guitar player to play a solo for a chorus or two, etc.
It wouldn't be too hard to let the contestants know that this is really about the harmonica players and not about the back up musicians soloing. It would totally minimize the length of each song, giving the musicians as well as the crowd relief and shorten the competition by 30%.
A different style of blues band that understands how to back up harmonica players more effectively should be considered for future events. The Payne Bros are a great southern rock/biker band, but this type of approach really limits how a harmonica player can perform on stage, forcing many to play differently than they would like.
The flow of the event could be tightened up as well, with shorter in between contestant banter between the promoters and more focus on streamlining. Mentioning the vendors can be handled with a simple short announcement at the beginning of the sets, the sets can be shortened to 45 min - 1 hr each with 20 minute breaks, and as soon as the break starts, some nice back ground music can play through the PA.
So, instead of a marathon from 1 PM - 10 PM nine hour ordeal, it can be edited down to 5 or 6 hours at the most with enough down time for the audience and back up band to relax and breathe.
How wonderful to leave an event energized and wanting more, rather than exhausted, battered black and blue with ringing eardrums. ---------- The Iceman
Iceman - I think the young lady played for 2 hours! LOL. She came over to my tent after she played and said she was all out of breath. No wonder. She had done the equivalent of running in the Boston Marathon.
Other than that, I agree with everything you said.
And Mojo - yes, there was plenty of cold beer, bar-b-que and the weather was darn near perfect. ---------- ">
Tamara was the ladys name I believe-it's no wonder she was out of breath-every time I saw her she was bent over like a chicken trying to peck feed!! Seriously,how can she breath all bent over at the waist,blowing her brains out!!
Holly crap , that's all I can say. Is this kind of harmonica playing representative for a competition like this? ---------- Free video harp tabs and backing tracks
Charge a $50 entry fee and you would eliminate all of this. Think about it. If you get 15-20 entrants and give most or all of the cash back in prize money you could give a couple of people a nice payday. The lure of winning $400-500 for a 15-20 minute set would attract a higher quality field. With no entry fee this year we had 25 "contestants". With an entry fee and the resulting prize money available we would still have 15-20 entrants who would be of a much higher quality. All would benefit. Although I have no prayer of winning I would be happy to pay (i.e. donate) $50 just to financially support the event and the real talent. ---------- ">
Hey guys...its Farley. I want everyone posting on this blog to know that I really appreciate the positive comments and suggestions about the show and what we should do to improve...and amplify our successes. After running around like crazy trying to find players to schedule their set, I now realize how important being more organized will be for future events! One of the basic tenets of our show from the beginning was to include everyone...beginners to pros...in the show. Its kind of our way of trying to allow musical expression at every level...and to appreciate the effort and creativity, and not just the technical aspects of playing the harmonica. Please be careful to not single anyone out and criticize them publicly...some of these players are students of the instrument and I want the experience to be positive for them. Please continue to offer ideas so that next years event can be the best harp show in the south. Farley
What do you think about a more experienced in backing harmonica players band - like Doug Deming and the Jeweltones or someone like them? This will also solve the volume issues.
Also, if you trim down the length of the songs/sets as suggested above, you can split the competition into Pro Category and amateur category. ---------- The Iceman
I second the Icemans view on Doug Deming- As a sidenote-when I inquired about the perfomers playing order,I was told the dry erase board that Lee Oskar used was to be brought stage side,with the performers names listed 5 at a clip-that never happened. It would have saved a lot of time running around,looking for the next players,and having to announce it over the PA. This is a forum,not a blog-people are not being singled out-the opinions here are voiced by forum members,who have every right to do so. If you feel someone is being singled out,one of the moderators may be better suited to handle that particular situation. Now being called out-that's a whole other story--- P.S> I never did find out why the power went off near the end of my set?????
Last Edited by on Oct 29, 2011 5:10 PM
I should have used more tact. Critique is useful but I didn't really offer much except to say the singing was much better than the harmonica playing.
There is a difference also in critiquing what someone puts on the web themselves and what someone else puts on the web of them. Still, this was a public performance. I don't think it's wrong to critique a public performance, although I don't think we did it in a way that was productive. We aren't required to be productive, but it wouldn't hurt.
You can't sing like that without a good ear. It sounds like, at least as of that year's video, she hadn't quite figured out where all the notes she wanted to hit were on the harp. There were spots where you could hear what she was trying to do, but it just didn't come out right.
I think sometimes unstructured playing can actually help with learning how to associate the right hole with the note you are looking for. You can learn to just count along and hit just the right chords, but sometimes playing the right notes isn't as instructive as playing the wrong notes; you learn where they are too. Learn that it's okay to hit a 'bad' note, but you have to hear it quickly and turn it into a passing note instead of holding it in a key part of the phrase.
If you translate from playing tab or just counting along to playing the note you hear in your head you cut out a translation step. Most people can naturally do that with their voice. The trick is getting there with an instrument.
TMF...I was very disorganized...the girls up front told all the players that we'd use the dry erase board...never happened. The power issue was that someone plugged in a broken blender in the bar...sucked so much power that it tripped breakers. Just goes to show you what to expect when you put on an event like this...it didn't ruin your set though! Iceman...we are having a "post event" meeting this week to discuss just those issues as well as ways to organize the players better...I love Doug Demming and the Jewel Tones! They are playing at Beachside Tavern with Steve Guyger and Dennis Gruenling on Nov. 20th. The Payne Bros are a really great band as well, but I fully understand your suggestion for a harmonica friendly band..we'll work on that too. I think having a split group of contestants is a good idea and I will be presenting that at the meeting...how about doing away with the whole "contest" idea and making it a festival? By the way...I couldn't tell you apart from Ed Coogan at the show! If I called you Ed I apologize...thanks again for all of the input, Farley
Still not sure about the band for next year...but we are definitely going to split into pro and amateur categories. Thanks for all of the good suggestions, Farley
I would also like to add the Spacecoast Playboys to the band roster-Mark Korpi fronts the band,and was Gary Primich's songwriter and guitar player. They are located near Cocoa Beach,and have been running the jam at The Beach Shack every Thursday night for some time now-
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