autoharp community in transition

I won't offer too many thoughts on the matter but did want to acknowledge that the autoharp landscape is changing. No one seems to want to discuss it, including me actually, but the pressure of losing patience in serving few but raw beginners is driving more advanced players to other forms of community, other places to find a peer group. Of course, there are those who simply wander off because they know all they think they need to know and do not feel the need to maintain such constant contact with other players.

I think we do need to acknowledge that there is always a tension between those with serious talent and accomplishment on the autoharp and those who use the autoharp as music for dummies. The former group will tend to have expensive instruments and perhaps more than one, while the latter will be here today and gone tomorrow, having found an autoharp at a flea market or bought the cheapest new one around, making it the constant job of others to support getting the instruments in reasonably playable condition. One can and some do burn out on that relentless demand.

The "one room schoolhouse", the "only party in town" sort of scene with Cyberpluckers just isn't working anymore, certainly not for this subscriber. Lots of others are conspicuous by their absence or reduced frequency of posting. My list of "odd characters" to filter out of my CP mail grows daily.

CP no longer does any significant discussion. It is just a bulletin board to request information, and reportedly the responses are mostly private, what I consider sneaking around and avoiding peer review of who knows what sort of ideas. Meanwhile, no one learns anything because the information is private. Someone else will have to ask the same question. Nothing is captured as a community consensus on any issue.

Maybe I'm slow, but I have realized that Cyberpluckers is not about learning anything, despite any lip service. It is really about feeling connected with someone "like you". The catch is that if someone is materially different, say more advanced or more serious in general, people are not friendly. They will only appear friendly if talking down to someone, mothering, herding, mentoring.

I really think that more established players with more on their minds than herding a flock of newcomers (okay, we'll call it feeling useful), a group that wants to interact at their own level, should break off or at least spend time making more use of other venues which cater to more knowledgeable players.

The critical piece of the puzzle is that smart, assertive people need a moderator. They need support and enforced rules of engagement, or getting into some pithy discussion will be seen as just not worth the hassle or the abuse.