listening

An enjoyable hour of popular music narrated by The Archivist (Roger Trobridge) from the 1960's containing harmonica. Though we don't study this era of harmonica playing (not known for its high level of playing), it's a fun listen.

Since the art of harmonica playing is mostly hidden from view, we spend the majority of our time listening when studying. To make this more convenient, you can take the same YouTube video and convert it to an audio file to use in your preferred audio program. Copy the URL from the YouTube video and Paste it into Media Human's YouTube to MP3 Converter software (http://www.mediahuman.com/youtube-to-mp3-converter/). Click on the download arrow and it downloads the video's audio into your iTunes library. continue reading...

The highest art of performance is to hear and react to what everyone in the band is playing as you play. If you're too focused on what you're playing, your ears close and your timing and groove suffer... along with your note selection relative to what the band is playing to support you (it's common for a soloist to play too light to a bluesy backing and vice-verse). continue reading...