No doubt most of you out there will know the fine work of David Barrett and his site www.bluesharmonica.com. Safe to say Dave has lifted the bar for learning the harmonica online and with lots of other content such as interviews with modern day masters, his site is more than just an education platform. Another example are the online songwriting competitions David runs where you can win prizes such as equipment, good old cash or performing at a local club. The idea of music competitions can divide opinion, but read on before writing this one off.
Enteries for 2012 Rhumba King now open
The current competition is to find the "2012 Rhumba King" and yours truly is one of the judges along with David of course, and German based Steve Baker. There's a very decent prize up for grabs for 3 lucky winners so pay attention....
....a free pass for this years Harmonica Masters Workshops in which runs between 31/10/2012 and 04/11/2012 Trossingden Germany.
With workshops from Joe Filisko, Eric Noden, David Barrett and Steve Baker, anyone who plays the harmonica seriously will know that's a vey cool prize indeed. But the winners will also get to perform in the Friday night concert backed by BB and The Blues Shacks. Oh, and I'll be there and on Saturday I'm giving a seminar on my book research; but more on that in another post.
Music competitions, they're pointless right?
So look, I totally understand reservations about entering a music competition. After all, music is not a competition. Moreover, it can seem especially pointless if you don't feel you have a genuine chance of winning. The thing is though, I think this is where the adage "it's not about the winning, it's about taking part" couldn't be more true.
If you have reservations about entering, perhaps think about it this way. Even if you have no chance of winning this is an opportunity to have your playing critiqued by Steve Baker, David Barrett and myself. You'll also have the learning journey of trying to write a tune and capture a decent take. Ultimately, we talking about a personally rewarding experience for an intermediate or advanced harmonica player. And if you are one of the winners, well happy days, and I look forward to shaking your hand at the Friday night concert!
If this has wetted your appetite you can see the competition details and enter at http://www.bluesharmonica.com/rhumba-king. There's plenty of time to put something together as closing date for online submissions is the 15th of July.
Good luck!