harmonica

Through this series I hope you've caught on that repetition, or by another name... organization, comes in many different forms in music. Take a listen to "Gary's Blues," your Tongue Block Study 3 study song. Listen for themes and we'll compare notes tomorrow.

In Friday's Richmond Browne quote he states, "The listener is constantly making predictions; actual infinitesimal predictions as to whether the next event will be a repetition of something, or something different. The player is constantly either confirming or denying these predictions in the listener's mind. As nearly as we can tell, the listener must come out right about 50% of the time--if he is too successful in predicting, he will be bored; if he is too unsuccessful, he will give up and call the music 'disorganized.'"

Let's use the Af Af At (AAA with fills) Chorus Form as reference. continue reading...

A snippet from the Between The Ears program made it to the BBC World Service Saturday. 44 million listeners... the harmonica can use that type of exposure!

BBC World Service Arts Hour - Harmonicas: The chance to hear the harmonica as a truly virtuoso instrument http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02lgpyr

What is the soloist doing when he attempts to "build"? Actually the ideal process hardly ever takes place--that is, it is hardly ever the case that a conscientious soloist plays a thinking solo for a hard-listening hearer, but when this does happen, the key process is memory. The soloist has to establish for the listener what the important POINT, the motif if you like, is, and then show as much as he can of what it is that he sees in that motif, extending the relationships of it to the basic while never giving the feeling he has forgotten it. continue reading...

In the book Improvising Jazz by Jerry Coker there's a quote author by Richmond Browne that "The listener must come our right around 50% of the time" in regards to guessing where the music is going next. Ruminate on that important statement and I'll elaborate tomorrow.

Listening to Chorus 2 of George Harmonica Smith's "Juicy Harmonica" notice that the first and second line use the same rhythm. Though the notes are different, the rhythm remains the same. This is a rhythm sequence. He changes on the last line (last four bars). Focusing on pitches only, you would call this an A B C Chorus Form. Taking into account the rhythm, it's clearly an A A1 B Chorus Form (A, A variation 1, B Chorus Form).

Here's what he plays using TAB. I placed the pickup to each line in parenthesis so that you can see the main meat of the line he's playing. continue reading...

More footage from the recording of "Midnight at 7 Bamboo." In this video you see the final take of the song and me record my 3rd Position solo.

The next time you're at your local hardware store take a stole down the fence supplies isle and grab a chain link fence cap. The most common size is 2-3/8", which is the same size as our bullet microphones. This is the inside diameter measurement, so it will feel a tad large, but it's pretty darn close. This is a great bullet mic analog for those wishing to get used to holding a bullet microphone before they make the investment for a real one. You can also play into it like a cup, creating cool, cavernous Wa Wa and Hand Tremolo effects. Not a bad tool, and under $1! continue reading...

This BBC special is no streaming online. Thanks to Kim Addonizio and Sara Jane Hall for such a great program. Congrats to Steve Baker, Joe Filisko, Martin Häffner and Richard Weiss for being featured.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05283j4

---

Imagine a town of harmonica players; sounds a bit surreal?

Now 'Between the Ears' gives listeners a chance to hear the harmonica as a
truly virtuoso instrument, always an instrument of the people - portable,
affordable and playable. Acclaimed poet Kim Addonizio turns harmonica continue reading...

Taking a listen to George Harmonica Smith's famous cut "Juicy Harmonica" (West Coast Down Home Harmonica CD on Elsegundo Records) you can easily hear that he's using the AAA Chorus Form in the first chorus. What is the second chorus? If you focus on pitches only you won't get it.

Have a great weekend everyone!