Re: [Harp-L] Breaking In / Adjusting to a new harp

[Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I don't know how you did this Richard, but it's as if you walked into my brain and stole everything that was in there on this particular subject.
I read this over about 7 times and couldn't find a single solitary word that I didn't totally agree with. It was actually scary, and I wasn't able to 
leave my home for several days out of fear.

If this isn't absolutely THE gem about how people and harps work together, I give up. Wow. 

smo-joe
>> 
>> On Sep 21, 2014, at 9:27 AM, Richard Sleigh wrote:
>> 
>>> The way I experience new harmonicas is a combination of discovering what
>>> this new harp can do. tweaking it, and then getting used to the feel of the
>>> new harp.
>>> 
>>> Every harp is different and has some sort of "personality". I think what
>>> happens is that I know what I want to play, and end up making all sorts of
>>> tiny adjustments in how I play to get the sound and response out of a harp.
>>> These adjustments in my playing happen subconsciously. I'm just focusing on
>>> the sound I want, and my body does God knows what to move toward getting
>>> that sound out of the harp.
>>> 
>>> It's like walking - I am making all sorts of really complicated adjustments
>>> that I am not aware of cause I am focused on where I am going.
>>> 
>>> I think a lot of what we call "breaking in a harp" is really this
>>> subconscious adjustments to the unique combination of reed responses in the
>>> new harp. Your mind / body go into some kind of discovery mode for the harp
>>> and come up with all sorts of subtle adjustments "push a little harder on
>>> draw 3 as it goes from whole step bend to step and  half just to get it
>>> past that minor sticking point" , play draw 4 a bit lighter to even out
>>> volume",  - this sort of thing, happening at warp speed for thousands of
>>> variables per second.
>>> 
>>> It would be exhausting to try to write down everything that the brain is
>>> processing in even a couple of seconds of playing a harp.
>>> 
>>> But that is my guess about what is actually happening as a big part of the
>>> "breaking in" process - the brain training itself to get used to the
>>> pattern of reed response in a new harp. Once it gets the formula for this
>>> new harp dialed in, the harp seems to be playing better.
>>> 
>>> Of course, if you tweak your own harps, there is that level of "breaking
>>> in" as well - adjusting a harp evens out the response and removes a lot of
>>> the stress on your brain / body to compensate for the uneven response.
>>> 
>>> I believe that we tend to play all the reeds in a harp at the general level
>>> that gets the most stubborn reeds to respond. That is why people tend to
>>> play hard. It takes real finesse to play most of a harp softly and then hit
>>> the one or two stubborn reeds just hard enough to make them sound like the
>>> other reeds.
>>> 
>>> It is easier to just hit them all hard...
>>> 
>>> If you can do basic reed adjustment, then the process of breaking in a harp
>>> includes physically adjusting the reeds and testing till you get the reeds
>>> to respond in a more balanced and consistent way. Then you give your
>>> subconscious mind a lot less to deal with as it comes up with its way to
>>> work with this particular combination of reeds....
>>> 
>>> So you are "breaking in" your own mind as well as the harp...
>>> 
>>> Richard Sleigh
>>> http://www.rsleigh.com
>>> http://www.hotrodharmonicas.com
>> 
> 
> Richard Sleigh
> 
> P.O. Box 23
> Boalsburg PA 16827
> 
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