Frank
3625 posts
Jan 02, 2014
6:21 AM
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Mirco
69 posts
Jan 02, 2014
11:10 AM
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Thanks for sharing, Frank. The takeaway for me is that we should always be playing in the service of the music and not to impress anyone. It's hard to do. Fortunately for me, I don't have enough skill yet to impress anyone, so it's less of a temptation.
Reminds me of that story about how Jimi Hendrix showed up Clapton. I guess everyone has their moment where they are just completely embarrassed onstage by a more proficient player.
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CWinter
87 posts
Jan 03, 2014
6:17 AM
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Thanks for posting Frank.
That was one of the most fascinating videos I've ever seen. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
"Any time you try to prove something to somebody, the music isn't honest."
- Kenny Burrell
Last Edited by CWinter on Jan 03, 2014 6:20 AM
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The Iceman
1360 posts
Jan 03, 2014
6:33 AM
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RE Mirco's posting...
No matter how well you play, there will always be someone whom you play a little better than as well as someone who is a little better than you. It is a constant.
Howard Levy doesn't count as he is an alien.
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The Iceman
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Kingley
3361 posts
Jan 03, 2014
6:53 AM
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"The takeaway for me is that we should always be playing in the service of the music and not to impress anyone."
Hammer, nail, head! Well done Mirco you got what I consider to be one of the most important aspects of being a musician and one that far too many players (even some very accomplished ones) pay no attention to at all.
Last Edited by Kingley on Jan 03, 2014 6:53 AM
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TheoBurke
550 posts
Jan 03, 2014
7:17 AM
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I loved this and thanks for posting. On this note, I did some recording for a radio back in the seventies ; it was too a pre-recorded track that included a brief slug for some harmonica flourishes. As you can expect, I played everything I knew in those couple of bars. The producer listened to the playback and said "that was a bit too brilliant for what we need" and asked me to bring it down a couple of notches on the next take. I reined it in the second time around, hitting my mark, staying on the beat and the notes of the melody. "That's the stuff" was what the producer said. He paid me the compliment of saying that most harmonica players he has used take three or four takes to get the short solo insertions the way he wants them. He thanked me for saving him some money and gave me an extra ten bucks for the twenty minutes of work I did.
Honestly, Frank, thanks for posting this.
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Ted Burke
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheoBurke?feature=mhee
http://ted-burke.com
tburke4@san.rr.coM
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The Iceman
1362 posts
Jan 03, 2014
8:02 AM
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"The takeaway for me is that we should always be playing in the service of the music and not to impress anyone."
I cover this in private lessons with a student who moves beyond beginner.
The scenario I suggest is that the student is on stage playing harmonica at a jam when in walks Kim Wilson who plops himself down at a table up front, puts his chin in his hand and stares at the student.
Now I ask the question..."How would you play?".
My answer is that, if he plays to impress Kim, he won't. If he plays totally centered at his ability level, is true to where he is at and doesn't try to perform above himself, Kim will shake his hand during the break.
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The Iceman
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Frank
3635 posts
Jan 03, 2014
8:15 AM
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Kenny mentions a similiar scenario to yours Larry in his book "effortless Mastery"...
He goes on to say -- To paraphrase Kenny Werner,
Players don't want to play what comes easy for them, because they believe it won't sound cool enough...
Kenny goes on to explain, that what comes out naturally and easily for a player is exactly the music they should be playing because it has a chance of actually sounding good as well as grooving.
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The Iceman
1364 posts
Jan 03, 2014
9:44 AM
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Of course Kenny is a big influence as well as a parallel concept developed at the same time I was discovering a lot of my approaches.
I booked Kenny w/Toots for SPAH 1999 as well as had Kenny do his workshop at the convention. Not that well attended at the time as the "white hairs" didn't have a clue what gold was being offered at this seminar.
Have had his book for 16 years, attended a lot of his workshops, and you can even see me in the audience as the camera pulls back from the stage where Kenny's first video was filmed by Jamie Abersold.
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The Iceman
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