Dear Harmonica friends, here are some thoughts to ponder.....
If one of little musical facility were to be stranded on an island with
a plethora of instruments, say a piano, a diatonic harmonica, a violin or
other exotic instruments. It would seem that one could find their way around
most of these instruments and play the music in their head, with the exception
of the harmonica.
The reason being is that the full chromatic scale of a diatonic
is so hidden that to play it perfectly with matching timbres and pitch
perfection would be impossible given the present state of technology and
technique.
Because the harmonica, most specifically the diatonic harmonica,
is one of the few instruments that cannot be seen or utilizes fingerings,
it's extreme conceptuality makes it arguably one of the most difficult
instruments in the world.
The harmonica lacks much of the intuitive nature that makes a piano or
guitar, kind of play itself, even with limited knowledge and technique.
The inherent difficulties of our instrument is further compounded by the
lack of resources and career opportunities that other instruments enjoy.
Most instruments, with the exception of the harmonica, have many types
of infrastructures which nurture that growth of the instruments.
We harmonica players do not have school orchestras for us to learn in,
we lack instutions of higher learning except in such centers as the
Turtle Bay Music school, etc.
We do not have mentors in combos to get real experience, we have little
vocational demand for our instrument in the market place and so on and
so forth.
We also have few role models of sucessfull harmonica players,compartively and
few teachers throughout the world.
It is our love that keeps us going. It is said that the sailor sees not his
destination until the final 99% of his journey. Let us keep our focus on the
music of the harmonica and not be detered by apparant lack of market demands.
Rather, we can marshall our creative resources to be the best we can be and work
our magic for the moment is ours to share.
I am not trying to say that the diatonic harmonica is the most difficult
in the universe, for this statement of relativity is far too subjective to be
know with impunity.
I wish to make the obvious case that we must focus our efforts on being the best
musician and human beings that we can be, so help me, All mighty.
Love and harps,
Randy Singer (present time, EST--4 a.m. :-)
http://www.randysinger.com/
He says
"Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words
Keep your words positive because you words become your behavior
Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits
Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny."
Gandhi