When I met @Hogie.Harmonica at SPAH 2024 in Tulsa, Okalahoma, he told me why he had joined the forum here. Please correct me if the the term was different.
But the power of the forum compared to social media, is that we are creating an easily searchable record of dialogue about various topics related to the harmonica, the instrument that we all love and cherish.
Peter said that his boss at work talks about the power of “Productive Tension.” One developer says “it HAS to be X” while another says “it HAS to be Y.”
Over time as they continue to have to work together, Mr. X slowly starts to see how maybe a little bit of Y is actually good, an Mr. Y slowly starts to see how maybe a little bit of X is actually good. and this is the POWER of PRODUCTIVE TENSION.
And that is part of what this forum is all about!!
@Luke@Hogie.Harmonica That’s my day job as an international negotiation and dispute resolution lawyer. A big thing about this forum is that it’s non-aggressive. From what I’ve seen the ethos is to help others rather than towards fighting or assertiveness. There are obviously very experienced players; very new players and the whole range in the middle. The only tension I’ve seen and believe me I’m well trained and experienced in spotting tension, is the personal tension of those who are trying to better their playing, perhaps that is personal productive tension. Personally I don’t do any of the so called social media platforms, there’s enough grief and arguments in the World without generating more. Well done to all the very nice people I’ve met via the forum and to @Luke for making sure it stays that way. Jay1
Mr. Jays,
Thank you for reminding me. The need to live on the pizza for a couple of day’s. -The big Diatonic Six Pack.
How do we exchange e-mails. Or find appropriate venue? I want to hold inquisition with you.
@Hogie.Harmonica - I knew I didn’t quite have the right term somehow. I’ve gone back and edited my original title and post to read “productive tension” rather than “creative tension.” The whole point is that while is challenging to hold tension, it will also lead to growth that otherwise wouldn’t be possible.
There also is, of course, also unproductive tension, which @Jay1 gets paid to resolve.
I know you were kinda half-joking there, but I think “personal productive tension” is a fascinating concept as well.
Because we want to challenge ourselves, but at the same time we have to somehow keep ourselves relaxed and playful and having fun.
It’s important to listen to great players.
But the ego is so crazy, it can take us from a place of awe, wonder, and inspiration, over into a place of self-sabatoge (as I talked about in my post The Green Monster of Jealousy.)
And the other interesting thought to note on this subject is that sometimes wanting something too badly introduces tension that sabotages us from achieving it as quickly and effortlessly as we otherwise could, which I think Kenny Werner examines brilliantly in his book Effortless Mastery..
I love your list Peter! And, of course no list of productive tension topics in harmonica would be complete without Tonguing vs Lipping.
YESSIR! When it comes to practicing, I like the concept that “nothing is wasted.”
I think ego is a big topic for harmonica playing. It both drives us and holds us back. Drives us to practice but also drives negative emotions and decisions.
And it’s also interesting to watch that play out. I think challenges harmonica had on being accepted play a big role. Blues culture another, and the sometimes very sharp learning curves on the instrument.
For me, ego slowed me down, really prevented me from listening to feedback. But once I stopped doing that, my playing started bounding forward.
Luckily my Wife’s dad was a musician she grew up around bands and rock and blues musicians. She’s quite willing to tell me when I screw up and she will always give me a signal to dial down or to raise it up during my performance, she’s always at the front supporting me. She has been married twice before once to a Bully and once to a narcissist ( her last boyfriend before I met her was also a narcissist) if there’s one person I can rely on to make sure I keep my ego in check it’s her, although due to my issues with autism etc I’m not a very confident person anyway and I am heavily critical of my own playing I sometimes come off the stage very disappointed with my self. Either for not getting in a run or rushing something and so on. The audience never notice but I do, but my Wife will always tell me if I messed up or not and she always says I take things to heart, and I’m too self analysing
[quote=“Luke, post:10, topic:20768”] @Luke I know you were kinda half-joking there, but I think “personal productive tension” is a fascinating concept as well.
[/quote] Actually Luke I was being serious and I think Peter @Hogie.Harmonica has also picked up on it with his ‘ego is a big topic for harmonica playing. It both drives us and holds us back’. It’s an area for exploration but not tonight after a hard day working, a flight back and then a drive home now I’m going to explore gins and tonics and the plural is deliberate
Ego as a topic in the harmonica world is actually something I’ve thought about for awhile.
To an extent, an amount of ego is needed to choose the harmonica and then present it as a performance instrument. It’s an instrument that gets some criticism so you need an amount of ego to look past that. And then, as you bear those criticism over the years, it creates a type of defensiveness. But sometimes that ego based defensiveness expresses itself as harp players being very critical of other harp players.
I’m guilty of it - having a narrow list of harp players I think are amazing and then outside that, I’m overly critical. I think its just harp players internalizing that criticism and then inflicting it on others.
Its a little complicated because that is part of the development of taste. So I think it is unlikely to untangle these things! But it is fairly simple to keep in the back of your mind, “is ego playing a role in the things I am thinking and saying? Is that ego helping me or holding me back?”
I am at one end very zen, and at the other end very punk with all this. I look at the harmonica as my samurai sword ( I’ve been doing martial arts since the age of 11) so I approach it with the samurai attitude of no mind, I’m already dead so why worry and at the other end with the Punk attitude ( I was a Punk rocker in my youth before I joined up) that attitude is I don’t really give a f–k what you think if you like it fine if you don’t I don’t care,this is me and what I do. It seems to have worked quite well for me.
Do harmonica players get too wrapped up about their instruments? Are they automatically defensive? I’m not a harmonica player; I’m a person who just happens, among other things, to reasonably competently play harmonica. There is no strong desire to achieve greatness or even to perform to an audience. Technically I’m competent enough for my own instruments but there is no wish to tinker with instruments belonging to others. Do I have an EGO? Yes, every lawyer needs it for court work but not as a harmonica player, that’s for pleasure. If I can offer others assistance, fine but if they choose to ignore what is offered, that’s also fine. I’ve heard good, bad and downright horrible musicians, singers and harmonica players but if they are enjoying themselves who am I to criticise, there’s no compulsion to listen and I’m not their tutor. Being very laid-back about playing harmonica is like @Andy2 with his Punk attitude of I don’t really give a f–k what you think if you like it fine if you don’t I don’t care,this is me and what I do (although sorry @Andy2 I could never stand Punk). Jay1
On the subject of ego, I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been playing in public recently, not busking and not too close to anyone but just trying to get used to distractions and to have the awareness that some people can hear me. I’ve had a few compliments from people passing by and that has been very heartening. However, a couple of days ago I was playing and a group of 5 homeless guys turned up, bottles in hand, and sat about 20 meters away from me. After only a minute or so, one of them yelled at me “Hey shut up, your harmonica playing is sh#t, I wanna get some sleep”. The others were all jeering. So, you can imagine, it was a bit of a shock. I thought damn it, I’m not taking that on the chin, so I put my harmonica away and went over to them. I said, “come on guys it can’t have been that bad” The main offender apologised, introduced himself, asked my name and shook my hand. It’s not the smartest thing I’ve ever done but I’m glad I faced them. Even so, it’s been a hit to my ego. I might avoid that particular spot in future.
and to 
Jay1
