Cognition Arts Harmonica Teacher London

This is the home of Dr Midnight, AKA David Michelsen. You are invited to check it all out. You can become a member of this new harmonacentric node, raft cloud etc.. Through this site you can explore your love of the ‘Sidewalk Stradivarius’, the tin sandwich, explore the amazing views of your siblings in the family of the Harmonica. The only instrument where your life’s breath submits to your souls thirst for creation, for the depth of communication and expression that only the Harp can bring.

Our host & mentor, The Good Doc, will introduce us to aspects of his ‘FasTrack‘ learning method. Here you have access to the tools the doc uses. Music the Doc has written and arranged to take a student happily through areas of technique which are traditionally so difficult that they have a history of stopping development in it’s tracks.

However the Doc’s ‘FasTrack’ method uses fun and the generation of ‘Positive Feedback loops’ and so lets the students enthusiasm to carry them through those areas that are so often ‘deal breakers’ in the learning process.

‘Music to play’ posts and music other family members have posted, either through the posting of links or through on site as audio files will be sure that there is increasingly music to suit every taste and ability. Unlike many sites here you have to request the sounds by use of the ‘Phonograph’ icon.

Here you can get an honest assessment of your playing technique from the Doc and your peers & ‘more better’ ways to improve your technique. The self discipline you use in making the solid foundations of good technique, create the freedoms you will enjoy all of your playing life.

Here you are with others who understand your passion for this funny little ‘toy’ of an instrument. This ‘toy’ is easy to sound, knock a tune out of maybe BUT it is one of the hardest instruments to master but once mastered one of the most expressive.

. . . “So come on in’

Ways to approach the ‘How To’ songs

The ‘How to’ pages are tuition tools, often in the form of songs to play. These songs or ‘works’ as I describe them are all written and or selected and arranged to exercise different areas of technique.

The songs, properly worked, will make performable additions to your repertoire.

How to work the songs up

When you approach starting a new tune, start by committing the tune to memory. If it has lyrics then, commit the song to memory with the lyrics. This way when you play the song you can sing it in your mind whilst you play it. Hearing the lyrics will help you get the phrasing right. Now that you have the tune in your head you will be able to tell when you make an error.

Finding the tricky bits

In every work there will be some bits that you find tricky. Along with the other parts or ‘easier’ bits. You must find the tempo, or playing speed, at which you can manage the tricky bits and then play the whole tune at that speed.

Even tempo

You don’t want to get into the poor habit of speeding up in the easy parts and slowing down in the more tricky bits. The Tempo is one of the main things that allows musicians to play together. If you change your tempo in order to handle tricky bits then anyone who wants to play with you will be confused by your getting quicker or slower.

Though some music does change pace as it goes along. It is done that way because the composer or arranger wants it to be that way, for reasons of musicality. When it happens for reasons of lack of ability, it will almost always happen in a way that doesn’t feel or sound musical or right. In short it will sound wrong and that’s because it is wrong.

Playing without the written music

When you can play a tune without the written music you should stop having the music in front of you. Having it before you when you can play it from memory will start you to thinking and thought is the death of art. The moment you start thinking while playing will be the moment just before you make a mistake. So you may be thinking what can I do to occupy my mind which isn’t thinking? The answer is listening to what you’re playing.

Ordering the song elements to work on

Sort out in your mind the order in which you have to ‘blow & suck’ to make the tune and then add this to the paten of the holes you have to put the breathing on.

Don’t run, take small steps

Don’t try to do the whole song all at once but take it in small manageable bits. If your song has lyrics then try to learn the song one sentence at a time. The phrases in the music of a song will usually match the phrases or lines in the lyric. This should give you a rendition of sorts even if it does sound a bit stiff and wooden. A sure way to succeed is to brake the task in hand into its elements, rhythm & melody, and then work at it in small manageable bites.

Embrace your mistakes

When you make a mistake just keep on playing, as though you had played it right. Don’t try and go back to fix it, that way you get two mistakes for the price of one. Don’t let mistakes stress you out. You have to make mistakes, they are part of the learning process. They show that you are learning, so embrace them, give yourself permission to make mistakes. If a mistake in a given place persists then you will have found a tricky bit.

Now take the tricky bit out of the song and just work at that. Once it feels easier, then play from the bar before the tricky bit. Then play the bit and the bar that follows it. In this way you weave your improvement back into the song.

Remember if you are working on the rhythm of the song it doesn’t matter if you get the tune wrong, as that’s not the part you are working on. At the end of the session you can reassemble all the elements you have been working on by playing the entire song for rhythm & melody.

Many folk will go back to the start every time they fall off the song. They end up with a bunch of songs that they can play the start of really well but the back end is almost unexplored.

Welcome to HOW TO get to know your blues harp better playing Skip To My Lou

Skip To My Lou

Leadbelly played a number of instruments. The Harmonica was one of them, though I can’t prove it I firmly believe that he wrote this song on the Harmonica, as it fits more naturally on the Harp than it does any of the other instruments he played, though he had to play it on his 12 string so that he could sing the lyrics.

Leadbelly

This song was written by Huddie William Ledbetter (January 1888 – December 6, 1949). He is better known by the name ‘Leadbelly’. His body of works show that he wrote a vast number of Folk and Country Blues songs in his 61 year life. His lyric topics went from the light, as in this song, to . . . well every facet of life was all ‘grist’ to his mill and quite lightly to feature in a song. He didn’t shy away from the controversial topics like racism. Like any balladeer his songs carried the news of the day and thus popular figures of the day, such as such as President Franklin Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Jean Harlow, the Scottsboro Boys, and Howard Hughes.

Using the music & Tab, (I am not a fan of Harmonica Tab as it doesn’t carry all the information needed to get you playing what ever is tabbed out, if you are going to learn a ‘musical code’ then it’s just as easy to learn written music) play the tune at a steady pace. You should play the whole tune at the speed at which you can manage the tricky bits.

Q) So what is working this song going to get you?

A) Playing single notes better, getting used to a one hole movement – ascending and descending on both the blow and the draw – breath control on single notes.

Q) What should I be on the lookout for, which may be tell tail signs that I’m not doing it right?

A) Check that your blow & draw notes have the same volume – see to it that you move the harmonica and NOT your head – if you hurt at all , like sore lip muscles you are doing something wrong – relax all the time and it should be pain free.If you are having trouble with having the right amount of air, check that you breath as you play.

13 MIDNIGHT EXPRESS

This duo work was written on the overnight train out of Bancock. The song is a vessel for those ‘Rhythm Techniques’ for which the blues harp is justifiably one of the best instruments in the world for the creation of this solid ride. Whilst to the ‘listening ear’ it may seem to be a layer cake rich in complexity of rhythm, cross rhythm & counter rhythm, it is in fact built from some very simple elements. There is a “How To’ on this, so you can build a train of your own.

Let’s hear from you, if you have a train at the station then post a link so we can take that ride. If you don’t got a train but do got some foot tapping rhythm ‘chuggery’, then post us a link & we’ll see who is the first to declare “well I’ll be chuggered that cat sure can tap”

This kind of rhythm playing brings with it a high of the most natural kind. One that is both healthy, in its aerobic content & and free as air.

When touring it is good to keep a ‘Road Journal’, something to keep your kids amused if nothing else. What follows is a clip from the Road Journal of one of my students ‘Hugh’. Hugh was a networks Guru and wanted me to change his life so that he became a Bluesman. The deal was that I was with him 24/7 making his life a steep learning curve for a year. My expenses were paid and if successful I got his zooped up Mac and all its bits. I only had an Amstrad WP and its limitations were driving me crazy.

This true tale comes from Malaysia when we gigged KL the city of lights.

HOW TO GET A GIG IN KL BY HUGH MESENGER

These tales come from a tour of South East Asia I took with my student Hugh Messenger. We went with his 6 & 4 year old sons, why make a thing easy when you can let the boys make it random from the start.

These tales we put in between the music in a book I wrote of J S Bach’s 2 & 3 part inventions arranged for the chromatic harmonica.

At first we had put playing notes as to how to approach the difficult bit’s, then in a moment of clarity I thought how pompous I was being, in assuming that the bits we found hard others would also find hard. So instead we put in these reports on our ad hock tour.

This one is written by Hugh Messenger (I was hired 24/7 for a year to change his life from that of a networks guru to a blues harp band leader), I hope you enjoy his writing as much as I do. Maddest of all is that it’s true almost down to the last grain of rice

HOW TO GET A GIG IN KL

BY HUGH MESENGER

There is nothing like public performance to ensure that songs get arranged and rehearsed properly. So far we had spent our time in South East Asia writing and rehearsing new material, with precious little in the way of live performance.

It was time to play a gig. We were now settled in KL, and a bit of asking around told us that the Barn Thai Jazzaurent was THE venue in KL for Blues and Jazz. Right, we thought, time to get to work.

We decided to swing by the Barn Thai that afternoon, have lunch and see how the land lay. As we walked into the place, the forebodings began. White liveried waiters hovered everywhere, gold and jewelery dripped from every patron and the cheapest dish on the menu constituted an entire days food budget. Still, there was a nice looking stage with a professional P.A. and more importantly, an appreciative audience.

We took our seats and biting the bullet, ordered our meals. David opted for a seafood Tom Yam and I went for a Prawn Tom Yam. Our Tom Yams arrived, conveyed with as much pomp and ceremony as a Royal Wedding. Ten minutes later I was still looking for my prawns. . . Now call me old fashioned, but when I order a Prawn Tom Yam I expect the occasional prawn in it. Unable to help myself, I felt my sense of English indignation growing. Centuries of Empire building genetic ancestry working itself up, stiffening the upper lip, changing the tone of voice to that particular clipped arrogance hated the world over!

David watched this process with growing amusement, and once sure that I was full of enough righteous indignation to face a regiment of white liveried waiters he raised his hand and clicked his fingers.

Now, David’s fingers are those of a Composer, Arranger and a Band Leader. His finger clicks can be clearly heard over the noise of a Rock and Roll band in full swing. The effect within the restaurant was dramatic. Everything stopped. Forks poised half way between plates and mouths, wine-bottles paused in mid gurgle, waiters froze in place. Slowly all heads turned to focus on us.

It was in this dread silence that I heard my voice, unbidden. . . “Bring me the manager at once.”

We were ushered to the manager. The rest was easy. Within ten minutes David and myself were giving the Manager a quick rendition of “Rattle Tramp” one of David’s more flashy, impressive fast R & B duo’s played on a combo of the Steve Backer specials in low C and and Tombo’s Ultimos in B.

RATTLE TRAMP The players of this cut down arrangement, using just 10 hole Lee Oskar Blues Harps in C, are : The Doc and his 15 year old World Harmonica Champion, Paul Gillings.

Within twenty minutes minutes we had booked ourselves a set for the following evening, agreed the fee and had our meal and bar tab waived.

We stayed on for the afternoon to get a feel for the acoustics and to know the house band ‘Sax appeal’. We had a bunch of fun giving them a horn section- harp style. We got on like the proverbial house on fire.

As we started to pack up. an American with a pony tail and beard cornered us. “Wow, what was this radio gear we were using, he wanted to know. Sennheiser UHF, huh? All the way up there? “Hey, even we don’t get to play around with this stuff”. It transpired that this man was the sound-crew chief on the Diana Ross tour, also playing that week in KL. He then had words with Don the manager, asking that we not start our set the following evening until his crew had finished their work and so could come and catch our set. High praise indeed, and much kudos in Dons eyes. I decided it was time to raise our fee a little. on account of the late start of course!

P S In the course of the years 24/7 tuition The Doc wrote a work for Hugh to play in the All British Open Harmonica Championships, The Diatonic Melodic category. The Doc doesn’t believe in music competitions, as for him music is all about complimentaion. That said it is one of the best tests of one’s nerve one can get. The audience is made up of folk who know what’s what on the harmonica and they are all listening with a very critical ear. After playing that gig no other audience will give you a bad case of the nerves. The value is also in competing with oneself, keeping on top of it and delivering the goods.

Where did Hugh place in the competition I hear you ask . . . well First Place, of course.

Hugh now fronts his own well enjoyed R&B Band in Huntsville Alabama & I inherited all his then top of the line Mac ‘puterts. and I taught his sons how to fish -D