Many thanks to GermanHarpist and Mickil for driving HPC 2 forward and getting it on the tracks. Your effort has been very much appreciated.
This is the OFFICIAL thread in which to vote for video submissions to the second Harpfriends Playalong Contest! Below is the official YouTube embedded playlist in which you can see all the videos submitted to the contest. There are 15 videos to vote on. Use the arrow buttons on the edges of the playlist player to switch the next video. If you want to see the descriptions that entrant wrote about their videos, please visit the harpfriends YouTube channel playlist.
THE VOTING RULES
1) You may vote on any number of video submissions.
2) Write the names of your preferred entrants (user name for this forum) in a post to THIS THREAD. Votes cast in any other thread or on YouTube WILL NOT BE COUNTED! Feel free to edit your ORIGINAL voting post as many times as you like during the duration of the voting period, but DO NOT add an additional post.
3) Be cordial! You can write what you thought of each video if you like. You don't have to lavish praise if you didn't like something, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE refrain from comments such as "you sucked big time". Most people will appreciate CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, as long as it is actually constructive. Be aware that submitters are of differing experience levels, therefore range from beginners to professionals. Please be prepared to judge against their level of experience.
4) Voting is allowed unitil 10th September (your local time, as noted on the post date).
5) Votes will be counted and the TOP FIVE videos will be posted in no particular order on the morning of 11th September
6) Winners get due respect and bragging rights--other entrants get a satisfied feeling of contributing to the uber-coolness of this forum! :)
I thought using effects was against the rules? Several entries here with heavy reverb.
Anyway... for tone, intonation of the bent notes and maintaining a recognisable melody Mickil gets my vote.
I liked Zhin's chord work too.
*Edit* Just seen Harpists entry in the submissions thread - not on this playlist. Gets another vote from me (and I liked the fact he recorded in a room with natural reverb)
Last Edited by on Sep 02, 2009 2:04 AM
I've concentrated on accoustic only as I feel effects can cover slight imperfections and make the overall piece sound better than it really is.
Harpist - sweet tone nice timing. OldWailer - nice latin tempo - in second part Mickil - well bluesed up good composition GobIronWard - nice version "Earthy" GermanHarpist - nice breathy tone but tiny bit too much ornamentation which complicated the overall tune somewhat MrSo&so - Good strong sound but little hesitant on that 3draw bent? DutchBones - mustn't forget Dutch although I almost did.
Damn, they were all good in their own way, you can take soemthing good from each of them.
OK, here are my votes and 2 cents. Congrats to everybody who entered. I know that I learned quite a bit just by participating.
I'm basing my votes on a few criteria. 1) Feeling. It's a song with a context after all. 2) Recognizability of the tune. My ears really want to hear that familiar tune, at least as a persistant theme, in the performance.
That said, here are my votes:
1) ChristelleBerthon -- feeling galore, and magnificent playing. Didn't need the reverb, but it did sound good with it.
2) Mickil -- excellent second position work. Nice improv too, while keeping enough of the melody. Excellent job "blusifying" the melody.
3) Dutchbones -- nice feeling and subtle improv. Maybe shied away from the -3'' a bit. I like your playing, in general, Dutch.
4) GobIronWard. Solid performance. I liked the octave work, and subtle improv. If I had done a second one after learning the proper tune, it probably would have been more like this one.
5) Oldwailer -- not close enough to the tune for my liking, but I loved the tongue blocking work in the second half, which earned my vote.
Last Edited by on Sep 03, 2009 7:21 AM
Can I vote for Me, Me and Me? Seriously Good work one and all.
In the order that they are listed on the playlist, not order of preference. MrSo&So Mickil DutchBones GobIronWard
The main reasons for not choosing others were 1. appearing to be using electronically generated echo which was not in the brief. 2. deviating too much from the melody for my liking. If I want to listen to Summertime I want to the hear the tune, not just other notes that appear in the chords that accompany the tune. That being said, I didn't actually go back to the Gershwin score to check the tune, maybe I'm wrong and I was busking. I am not doubting that others are maybe more technically proficient at the instrument and undoubtedly have a nice sound, but for me it wasn't Summertime. I have heard other versions that go even more astray from the tune. That's my 2p worth, I'm sure others will disagree, and I am not qualified to comment on other players ability [you've heard mine after all], so I'll just say that I know what I like as a listener.
I just want to say that I applaud everyone who submitted their rendition of Summertime and thank Adam and the guys who put this competition together, for their efforts.
I'll be going over the vids during the week-end and vote... in the mean time...BIG THANKS to the people who voted for me, it's very much appreciated! ---------- DutchBones Tube
This one was close--but here's what I cam up with.
I listen for musical ideas that depart from just straight melody and still give me the feeling of the song--there were two steller entries that had more help from electronics than I thought was legal--but they were both appreciated and I liked hearing them.
jonsparrow - I'm happy to see you improving a lot since I saw your first few videos. Your tone, cleanliness, and control has improved but the search for perfection will never stop. You also painted outside of the lines and I like that kinda thing. Definately an original take.
mickil - Very cool that you played it in 2nd position. I can't stand playing this song in that position because I'm not very good at it. :) Your tone gets thin at certain parts though. Phrasing is in context and creative too.
dutchbones - Classic. Stayed pretty close to the original too. I like how you take your time and sustain your notes. I like your tone.
oldwailer - Good mellow tone and you know the rest. :p You played clean and good. Nice one Ray. The chord chugging part caught me by surprise! You cheeky man you! Good job.
harpist - Wow. Yours is my favorite entry. You played beautifully sir. I like your tone, timing, deliberation, melody choices, and phrasing. Perhaps you can give me some pointers on how I can improve my take?? I am well aware of how the natural reverb makes it all sound sweeter but I'm very sure I can still hear some quality playing even if there wasn't any reverb on. I like this take a lot.
I'm not finished watching all the vids yet, but of the first few I've watched, I like Mickil's the best. I'll edit this post when I've watched the rest and add the names of those I liked the most. I just wanted to be sure to get at least one post in before the deadline.
I thank you for your kind words. The best advice I can offer you is to drop your jaw, open your mouth and place your harp in real deep. Listen to the great ones and try to copy what you hear. Don't limit yourself to just one style of music. I made that mistake when I was a young harp player and found it to be one of two reasons for my limited creativity. The other reason is my giving in to many distractions that caused years of inactivity.
But then again, who am I to give advice. Zhin, you've got a real good sound and some fine technique. Keep the fire burning my friend, I see alot of talent in you.
Mickils, your's actually gave me goose bumps. Oldwailer close to par with mickil - very nice tongue blocking stuff. Mme Berthon, very beautiful with outstanding technique. dutch's because of the simple beauty and the feeling. true to his bones. ;) Tookatooka - clean and beautiful
Jeez this is difficult... everybody has has brought out some real good stuff in their videos, basically I thinks everybody is a winner here one way or an other..... anyway, we can select only 5 people so here she goes in no particular order..
Harpist - just great to listen to Mickil - really made it sound bluesy while staying with the basic theme Mr.So&So - kind of haunting, I like the way he goes to the high end and the "front porch" approach Wailer - added some interesting rhythms (cha cha cha?) while staying with the overall theme Tooka2 - added lots of nice variation, fun to listen to
I also like to mention jonsparrow, who should re-title his entry to "Once Upon a Summertime in the West" , really liked it but it was not acoustic. Zhin's entry I liked too, but I felt that technic (which in itself is great) sometimes got in the way of "feeling". Sorin was great too, but amped , so... aahhh this is difficult.... and Lumpy... Lumpy showed a lot of imagination while staying true to the song. when I was playing only 2 years (like Lumpy) I wasn't that adventurous with my harps..... (still I'm not) GH was good too, adding some real interesting licks and phrases, but I felt they sometimes got in the way of the groove (rhythm?) of the song...
All in all, everybody showed some real good stuff and there is plenty material now available, just here at MBH for people who want to expand and /or improve their version of "summertime" .. ain't that great?
Here's my top 5, along with comments and criticisms. They're not in any particular order; it was hard enough just deciding on 5 to start with. I'm not even sure about my selection, but, if I spend any longer trying to decide, I'll go mad. I could easily have chosen a few others.
ChristelleBerthon - For the purpose of casting my votes here, I tried to find fault in your performance, not an easy thing to do. The only thing I could spot, which I wouldn't have done if I had your skill, was that passage from around 2:08 to 2:42. I got the - possibly mistaken - impression that you unintentionally strayed from the melody at that point. I know it's a fairly rhapsodic, cadenza-like account, but I think the phrasing is put off balance by that extra passage. Still, it was a beautiful performance.
GermanHarpist - I like it that you put in an intro and then used some of its licks to form a counter-melody with the tune itself, a call and response in place of the usual long held notes. Also, I really like your low-down-dirty, down-on-the-farm tone.
Harpist - One of the few with any extensive use of throat vibrato, which, needless to say, added beauty to the tone. I like that you threw in the odd scoop here and there, though, I felt that at least one with a wah-wah with an aggressive attack would have added to the drama much more.
DutchBones - I like your varied, embellished phrasing. You took the tune into nice little twists and turns. Also, from what I can remember of your other vids, you seem to be breaking your dependence on hand vibrato (I hope that's being fair.) My only criticism is that you seemed to steer away a bit, or was a little shaky on that pesky 3 draw whole step bend.
sorin: I liked what you did: it was an adventurous, different approach. My only real criticism is that I kept losing the underlying tune. I listened over and over, and it seemed to go: 'Summertime, and the cotton is high'. It seemed to skip the part that goes: 'and the livin' is easy. Fish are jumpin'. Still, I admire what you did.
Like I said, I could easily have chosen a few others. The only ones I wouldn't have voted for - and the reasons why - are:
jonsparrow - Although I liked the sounds that you made, I didn't feel that repeating and transposing the opening phrase in that way was entirely engaging with the task to hand. I voted for you last time, and I think that you can do loads better.
lumpywafflesquirt - I don't think that what you did was technically any less accomplished than a few of the other entries. But, much of it was played without any apparent adherence to the underlying metre. It's not a tune that can be rushed.
Anyway, that's what me thinks.
Many thanks for the votes and the comments I got. ---------- 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
mickil, thanks for taking the time and, yes... you're right on the spot about the 3 draw, when it comes to playing a melody (as opposed to some blues) the 3 draw bend is a scary place.... and yes, I drpped my hand vibrato for throat (most of the time anyway...) thanks again.. ---------- DutchBones Tube
Well purely down to the fact that some people used post effects (which I don't believe was in the true spirit of the contest) my vote is as follows.
1st Mickil and DutchBones (joint position) 2nd Oldwailer
Christelle of course did a great job of this tune. However I would have preferred to have heard it without the post effects. The reverb was to my ear, way to heavy.
JonSparrow also did a good job of it, but again I would have preferred to hear it without the post reverb added.
I particularly liked Patrick Barkers opening in the style of George Smith. Nice work Patrick!
I think that everybody did a great job with this tune and it was interesting to see the different approaches to it.
Last Edited by on Sep 09, 2009 2:34 AM
I think I'll participate and throw a vote out there :)
No particular order:
Mr so n so tookatooka germanharpist (& his cow) Lumpywafflesquirt jonsparrow (definitely think that would fit in the next Lynch film haha)
My honorable mention: Christelle, thanks so much for participating and showing us how you would do it. Very enjoyable listen.
I would have participated but I wasn't sure how to do what you guys did. I guess I would have to figure out the riff and work from there. I'd definitely like to learn how you all took at this one.
---------- ~Ryan Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
