Tip of the Day

The most basic way of playing with a vocalist is to play when they're not singing, called playing "fills." This naming comes from the idea that you're "filling" the holes left by the vocals.

The first challenge is to know when to start playing (this tends to be fairly intuitive) and when to stop playing (which is a little less intuitive... it's easy to play too long and step on the next line of the vocals).

There's a simple answer... sing the vocals. continue reading...

Last year fellow student Hank Stefaniak reviewed the new harmonica pitch reference software HarpNinja for everyone (thanks Hank!). I've been using this with students at my School of the Blues for a while to test its effectiveness and have been working with the developer on suggested improvements (he's been great about implementing my suggestions). continue reading...

When students work on their improvising skills, they find it challenging to come up with cool fills for their Af Af At and Af Af B Chorus Forms. The easiest place to find lots of fills is in songs where there's harmonica playing fills between vocals. The study song "I Want You With Me" in Accompaniment Study 4 is a good example.

Here's a fun hour of harmonica-focused content. Thanks to Nedra Russ for sharing this. Harmonica Heroes Take Over WNPR http://wnpr.org/post/harmonica-heroes-take-over-wnpr

I've found the Tascam series of recorders to be very user-friendly (I use these at School of the Blues in all my teaching rooms) and in the case of this sale, extremely affordable. Musician's Friend has the LR-10 on sale for $40 right now. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/tascam-lr-10-instrument-vocal... Do quick recordings of songs you’re working on or for recording a live band. continue reading...

On 12/2 I wrote... continue reading...

Take a listen at 25 minutes where they speak of our tendency to speed up for slower tempos and slow down for faster tempos.

The Power of Music
http://www.wnyc.org/radio/#/ondemand/332637

Check out this hour-long program devoted to music, specifically at 34 minutes where they cover the lore of Robert Johnson and the Crossroads. The Power of Music http://www.wnyc.org/radio/#/ondemand/332637

Take a listen to what Dennis Gruenling will be teaching at the 20th Anniversary Harmonica Masterclass Workshop in April of 2014. For more information, or to register, visit: www.harmonicamasterclass.com
http://youtu.be/AcWDUhdeRvM

In these videos Peter Egbert, MD (fellow harmonica enthusiast) and I speak of the process we went through over the past two years in this MRI study.

MRI Video Interview of Study (YouTube)
http://youtu.be/I5ZjNUWnhgk