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Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2001 01:55:58 -0400
From: "glen~lbany.net"
Subject: Re: books

> Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2001 09:54:26 -0400
> From: "Richard Kraus"
> Subject: Tom Ball's Books
>
> I've been playing about a year. Have both of Tom's books.
> They're great. I don't understand the criticisms. If you look at
> the tab and listen to the CD, you're at least 90% there for every
> lick - the rest is timing and listening and fiddling around and
> learning to be a musician. Besides, some of the stuff is so
> nuanced and intricate with bending and sliding, it's damn near
> impossible to translate to paper, but easy enough to work into
> with practice.
>
I wasn't saying they were bad books-they work fine for a lot of people. But
I can tell you from my experience as a teacher of harmonica and other
instruments that some people can't
just get it from listening to a CD the way others can, and those people need
the written music so they can slowly dope out the timing and then play the
licks. How easily you can get
the lick from a CD depends on your ear skills, and some folks just don't
have a good ear in the beginning. It's always best if the music notation is
there along with the recorded
examples. And I do believe that people who write music books should know how
to write music. Many retailers won't order books that lack notation out of a
preconceived notion that
somehow such books are not legitimate.
Also, blues harp can be ideed notated accurately. Dave Barrett, Dave
McKelvey, and myself -the Gang of Three-have all written harmonica
transcription books (mine will be out in a few
months). It's not easy to do right, but it can be done. Guitar transcribers
have been doing similar work for years. You think Sonny Terry is complex?
Tons of Jimi Hendrix's stuff and
Eric Clapton's has been written out by a guy named Jesse Gress, and there
are other people doing such work as well.

- -Glenn Weiser