Great stuff. It always amazes me just how fast and with such precision at speed that Jason can play. Love the line "I could probably play faster than me too".
It's been at least a couple of years since I last watched this video. Jason gives great insight into his own playing which has been incredibly beneficial to my development.
Still, even when presented with all this information, I have only been able to achieve one small fraction of what I'd like to be able to do.
Jason's remarks on how to achieve speed are on the money , I think, which is to say that speed is something that comes from constant and intense practice on musical ideas until your able to play them at will. Along with Adam's own videos on playing fast, Jason also reminds us that speed is only one item in a harp player's tool box; I like the emphasis on notions on when to play fast , how to build an exciting and creative solo rather than blasting out rapid riffs and phrases. I believe that is the goal, though I have a habit of going beyond the speed limit. ---------- Ted Burke http://youtube.com/watch?v=-VPUDjK-ibQ&feature=relmfu
One thing Jason misses in this video (and in fact the series) is articulating with the tongue. I watched this video tons of times, asked Jason questions, which he very kindly answered, and still couldn't get it. My problem was that I was tongue blocking. I've since taken to tilting the harp and lip blocking. This frees my tongue to 'tick' the notes and get the separation of notes. Jason explains it much better than I in this video, made some 4 years after this first one.
I'd strongly recommend watching this video as a companion to the Playing Harp Fast Series. I still can't play this stuff, but I'm now in a much better position to understand it and it makes it more achievable.
