(I feel like this could be the quiet before the storm. I'm not sure why. It feels like I have nothing I need to do, but am content with looking forward to, and quietly making plans for, all the things set to happen soon.)
I bought myself a Hohner Blues Harp the other day. It sounds fantastic and gives me a good feeling when I sit there and play it. I can happily spend hours running my lips along it's edge, breathing in and out through it's reeds.
This will sound weird, especially to someone who has never really played a harmonica, but there's a definite sensual quality to playing one. Obviously due to it's design, the way you have to use it, but also I guess because of it's encouragement of improvisation, the way it lends itself to you feeling and hearing your way around a performance. You have to relax, exhale and then just listen to the sounds you produce, making subtle adjustments as and when you feel the need. It's incredibly rewarding.
Funny really, for what, at first, seems like such an odd little instrument.
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