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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Are you singing? A post by Jon Gindick on Facebook
Are you singing? A post by Jon Gindick on Facebook
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ReedSqueal
421 posts
Apr 22, 2013
3:52 PM
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Are You Singing?
As you know, I am all about harmonica playing and making the world more musical.
By musical, I mean more music-making, more musicality.
...not just turning on the radio, rather turning it off and singing and playing harp, making your own music.
I mean being true to the music you love, not the music you think you should love.
And I mean, singing.
Yes you, playing harp and singing.
"I love my baby!" wa wa wa wa "Like wino loves his cabernet!" wa wa wawa
Singing develops your ear and timing. Singing gives the music a context.
Singing makes you the most important member in the band.
I remember how I used to feel about singing.
My voice was throttled in 3rd grade (age 8) when I decided that it was girls who sing and I was no girl.
So I closed down the heart, resticted the airpipe.
None of that girl stuff for me.
Throttled more growing up as I found out how much trouble I could get in by speaking carelessly, or just wising off. I strangled myself to stay out of trouble.
"Watch what you say" is an important, but throat-closing injunction. Think before you speak is wisdom.
Think before you sing may not be.
Ol' Gin Voice was throttled again at age 24 when I took a college singing class in Sacramento. As an assignment I played guitar and sang "The Gypsy Rover" for the class of some thirty people.
When I was done, the singing teacher turned to the class and said, "And THAT is EXACTLY how NOT to SING!"
Even though I continued to sing, I was singing into the void of those memories.
I was singing from fear.
I sang from weakness.
Which meant, all I could do was mumble.
When you sing, you have sing from courage.
Then came Jam Camp. Then came a fire to perform.
Then came a singing teacher who got through to me.
She taught me the secrets of humming and smiling.
Then came performing and recording with a friend who beleived in me.
Singing is your passport in the world of music.
When you go to a jam, don't say you are a harp player, or you'll be off in the corner playing through an underpowered pa channel.
No, tell them you're a singer.
Then they are all over you to try to please you.
To a certain extent, it's now all about them doing a good job for you.
You call the tune, set the tempo, set the key for your voice and harp.
If you haven't done it, it takes nerve.
You make be asking yourself, is that me up here singing?
Of course you need something to sing,
You can turn to the amazing collection of songs and artists that make up the blues and use those lyrics, or adapt them.
You don't even have to sing.
Humm, scat, rap...just don't mumble!
Be bold. Open your heart. Embrace your audience.
And smile, always smile when you sing!
Look at it this way...
Anyone who can talk can sing...
Anyone who can fill their lower
torso with air as though it were a balloon
and let the air escape through their lips as they talk
can sing on key.
And yes you can sing better, MUCH BETTER very very quickly
in the right environment.
For almost everybody, the key to singing the blues is embracing singing the blues.
Jam Camp teaches embracing.
But you can be your own jam camp.
Start Now. Sing every day. Add your voice to your harp.
When you play a riff on your harp, answer it with your voice.
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Go ahead and play the blues if it'll make you happy.
-Dan Castellaneta
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Sherwin
65 posts
Apr 22, 2013
4:07 PM
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Wow I feel better after reading that Jon, thanks for posting that reedsqueal
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Frank
2263 posts
Apr 22, 2013
4:40 PM
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Jon is a Master at revving you up and making you feel like hope is ever so near :)
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Jim Rumbaugh
859 posts
Apr 22, 2013
4:47 PM
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My first year at Augusta Blues Week in Elkins, WV, a fellow Harmonica Club member suggested I take the blues singing class. That class has paid back more benefits than the harmonica classes I took, especially for the other members of The Harmonica Club.
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theharmonicaclub.com (of Huntington, WV)
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