Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't care for the word "Harp" to describe the Harmonica. Harmonicist certainly has a nice ring to it. Chromonica is also growing on me, as I quickly became bored with the diatonic and graduated to the Chromatic. Playing by ear, finding the notes to whatever tune suits my fancy, and continuing to play over and over, "woodshedding" until I can play the tune smoothly, and add lots of expression is what playing the Harmonica is all about for me. Therapy for raw nerves after a hard day at work.
I've always thought some of the old jazzer lingo, such as "woodshedding", were kind of goofy, but never gave it much thought. Back in 1980, when I first started playing Trumpet in gradeschool, the old timers used all of the jazz lingo. Some "cat" was blowing on his horn, etc. I used to have a mental picture of someone's pet cat sitting in a chair like a human, playing up a storm on the trumpet, sax, etc., with the audience marveling at how an animal could outplay all of the humans on a musical instrument
