[Harp-L] intonation and bending/overblow notes , iceman's summertime

[<jaguire@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

iceman sayeth,

"To answer the question and suggestions of using a minor tuned harmonica to 
play this song, I choose not to use any special tuned harmonicas in order to 
realize my vision of moving all notes created on the regular diatonic 
harmonica into equality.

The very fact that so many of you couldn't tell that "Summertime" was played 
in 2nd position lets me know that my notes created through bending 
techniques (including OB) are becoming seamless. "

-----------------------------

out of tune notes are not  "seamless", they stick out instantly to the 
listener as "off" and sound generally unpleasant


notes played are either in tune or out of tune....intonation.....if that 
song "summertime" had been played on a chromatic or a piano all the notes 
would have been in tune.....fact is there were quite a few if not many notes 
there that were simply out of tune...stick out like a sore thumb every time 
.   just because the notes are played on a diatonic harmonica does not mean 
we can blithely ignore the
fact that out of tune notes sound bad.   hitting bent or overbend/overblow 
notes spot on to pitch every single time in a live performance is really 
hard if not impossible. hitting every note in tune every single time on a 
piano or a chromatic is virtually guaranteed.  i've heard howard play live 
for hours and have never heard more out of tune notes played live by a 
professional musician in my entire life.  quite embarrassing to witness 
really.

maybe it's the polite thing to do to ignore out of tune notes played over 
and over again on a diatonic harmonica but then again there is a place for 
something called intellectual honesty , especially in this forum.

this needs to be said by someone other that just richard.   i make these 
obvious points not to create rancor or to detract from a player's talent , 
since howard for instance is , in a general although oddly contradictory 
sense, clearly far and away the most talented musician to ever play the 
diatonic harmonica ( regardless of the fact that i would rather listen to 
william clarke or a few dozen other harp players).

of course , playing a blues harp in " amplified chicago-style " or 
"amplified rock harp"  as many of "our heroes"  do/did , is a style much 
less susceptible to this intonation problem . one reason being that notes 
are not so dependant on being hit spot on where bending is often slurred 
through in the blues/rock style.

can you say, "the emperor's new clothes" ?   i knew you could.   this whole 
phenomenon of harp people ignoring all the out of tune notes is the most 
amazing case of the "emperor's new clothes"  in real life.       where the 
heck is the little boy who says, " gee, that dude can really play the hell 
out that harmonica, but what's up with all the out of tune notes that nobody 
is calling b.s. on?   seems to me if a violin teacher heard her prodigy 
violin student play every fifth note off-pitch he/she would INSTANTLY call 
b.s. on that.

maybe i don't get it , but i can tell when a note is badly off pitch in a 
song .    and i am a big fan of harmonica music.

cletus