Re: [Harp-L] bends and reed fatigue




----- Original Message ----- From: "Jp Pagan" <jpl_pagan@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "harp-l harp-l" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, October 03, 2004 10:03 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] bends and reed fatigue



hi all,

  i'm pretty sure i know the answer to this problem,
but i thought i'd throw it out there, hoping to learn
something:
  lately, i've been trying to get into 1st position
and i'm noticing that my blow bends are all knocking
my harps out of tune. i even bought a new G harp
recently, and after just playing it once, i got
beating in my 6/9 octave - after blow bending the 9.
  my feeling is this is a matter of bad technique.
perhaps, without knowing it, i'm forcing the bend and
it's knocking the reed out of tune. i'm trying not to
play hard but...
   i've also encountered this with the 4 draw. not as
often, in fact, only twice in a couple of years, (once
on a A, and recently on a D) but still. it's annoying.
any tips?

         thanks,
                  --Jp

Hi JP,
Blow bends are common problems with a lot of harp players because it's usually played EXCESSIVELY hard. The draw bends always seems louder because it's actually the BLOW reed that does the bending when you do draw bends, and the blow reeds being the top reed plate, your ears pickup the sound much sooner, fooling your ears to think that they're louder, and with the blow bends, the exact opposite occurs, making your ears believe it's a lot quieter than the draw bends, being it's the draw reed doing the bending, and your ears are picking up the sound much later than when it's the other way around. If you play it thru a PA with a good monitor, no such difference should be perceptible. Now, because your ears doesn't pickup the sound of the blow bends as quickly as the draw, most players will tend to play much harder on the blow bends because of this very reason.. In fact, in the Lee Oskar instructional manual that comes with his tool kit, he explains this in detail, and to prove this, take the cover plates off, and then do a blow bend, and then place your finger on the draw reed in the corresponding hole, and you'll notice very quickly that the note stops sounding. Now do the same thing for the draw bend, and when then bent note starts, place a finger on the corresponding blow note and then the bend will stop. Blow reeds in the top register tends to be more sensitive to air pressure, and the likely culprit is that you hit your blow bends far too hard and you're actually unaware that this is what you may be doing.


Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
MP3's: http://music.mp3lizard.com/barbequebob/






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