At last (I'm sure you've been waiting with bated breath) here's footage of my playing.
This video is a few months old but this morning I watched it and noted a few learning points.
* A lot of tension in my shoulders. No doubt it's onstricting my playing and my tone. * I really need to build a better bridge between the middle and upper octave. (I like to get up there but as you'll see in my 'solo', once I'm there I'm kinda stuck.) * In the excitement of a gig, I seem to play a lot harder, and louder, than I would in a rehearsal context. It has a massive impact in terms of tone and precision. * Likewise, find it difficult to leave space - all fired up, I just wanna blow.
Other learning points - let me hear 'em?
(I should apologise for the arhythmic hip-swinging and foot-tapping. Though there's room for improvement, this is not something I'm inclined to work on at present.)
Regarding the high end in second position, between B6 and B9 you have a complete Mixolydian scale. So, on most material, you can move around up there pretty freely without hitting a bad note so long as you are not blow bending. D10 is a 9th and also works, especially as a little crescendo note.
To bridge between the middle and upper registers hit B5 D6 which is a 6th 9th. It's very smooth and melodic. Or you can hit B5 B6. But DO NOT hit D5 or the transition will sound very rough.
When a player gets excited it's easy to speed up without realizing it, so keeping in time is important. i find if I listen actively to the drummer and place my notes in relation to what the drums are playing it helps me keep from speeding up. It also keeps me from overplaying since it keeps me oriented with the groove, so it becomes easier to leave more space and let the groove do some of the work. It's important to try to think about how what you are playing fits with the overall sound instead of just thinking about what you are playing.
Btw, if you plug into the groove closely, it's easier to stay relaxed and let the groove carry your playing so it becomes easier to leave space, Then when you do play, you make a more powerful musical and emotional statement. I like what you are doing but I also think your self criticisms are very insightful. Personally, I find that (in general) if i play my fills with notes ON the down beat (rather than the up beat) it's easier to keep from overplaying. But, of course it depends on the material. i listen to the drummer. Anyway, that's my take on it. FWIW.
Last Edited by on Oct 22, 2011 9:17 AM
All of your learning points hit home with me. Good post.
Practice practice practice is all it takes to get all all around the harp. The top half of the takes time.
Not hearing yourself well can cause you to overplay for sure. Look for a good volume and mix before the set. Make sure you can hear yourself over the band.
Listen to and play along with some of the greats. Listen to how much they play and where the gaps are.
Yup, definitely sounding good! You clearly have an idea of the things you want to work on, and I'd agree that those are areas most of us need to work on, so I'd defintely say "yeah, work on 'em". But all in all, your performance was very entertaining, and the audience certain seemed like they were digging it, and at the end of the day, that's the whole point, ain't it? Well done, and really happy to see/hear you playin' finally! ---------- == I S A A C ==
Sounds good to me. I've noticed people shooting video tend to try to stand off to the side to stay out of people's way. You end up with unbalanced audio and weird angles. :)
I know the feeling of getting up to the high notes and having a hard time finding your way back down. It seems to be easier going up. It's funny Hvyj mentions the 5 draw as a rough note. I use it all the time in my arrangement of 'When the Saints Go Marching In'. It was one of the first songs I learned, but I didn't learn it 'right'. I used the 5D and it suddenly sounded like music you'd hear in a movie at a French cafe! It's kind of fun sounding actually, but it definitely doesn't sound like the normal note you'd play. (Sometimes I mess around with my chromatic, working the slide but only playing blow notes and I get a Turkish sounding scale.)
Anyway, on Saints, I get back around range by playing half of a repetitive phrase in the upper range and then jumping down, so 'When the Saints' I'd play high, and then 'Go Marchin' In' I'd switch back down to the bottom octave. It seems to work. I don't know the theory behind it, but it makes it sort of sound like two separate instruments playing call and answer.
As for louder sound in a live setting, I've run into that too. I noticed my tone wasn't as good on the recording of the last open mic we played. I thought back and realized it wasn't all how hard I was blowing... I'd changed my hand position to play with a mic 'acoustically' (back from the mic 6 inches or so) but really wasn't cupping much.
Adrenalin kicks in at a gig and everything goes up a notch. I've found if I gap the reeds so they are perfect at home, some will choke up at a gig.
Hearing yourself play is the biggest factor here. If you cannot, you blow/draw harder to try and compensate,but it makes little difference and you end up choking reeds or flattening notes.
Regarding overplaying. Think of your playing as a conversation. You don't rattle off hundreds of words without punctuation, sentences,paragraphs and full stops.
Call and response is another way to look at it. Ask a question with the harp, pause to think about, then respond.
