harps

[<Randy.Lilleston@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

To Charlie Sawyer (put on the harp list to get the conversation moving again) -

 I can do the half-bend on the 3-draw and hold it, and can make it quiver by
doing what's called ""diaphram tremolo," which uses slow diaphram contractions.
That's something I just picked up this year, after 13 years of playing!
Actually, I can play *four* distinct notes on the 3-draw on the C, if the harp
is well broken in (truthfully, I can only do this on Huangs, which are very easy
to bend but which are thin-sounding).

 I've talked my band into playing the Fabulous Thunderbirds' cover of "Cherry
Pink and Apple Blossom White," which is one of the coolest-weird trash-up-a-
cheeseball-song covers I've ever heard. It uses almost all 20 reeds of a
diatonic in A, plus a bunch of bends, and it's only about two minutes long. Bar
audiences are going to love it.

BTW, re your remarks on Butterfield saying it's more difficult to play the harp
than the flute - a 16-hole chromatic harmonica actually has a wider range than a
flute. It also has a wider range (64 notes, not counting bends) than some
keyboards, for that matter.

Anyone in the DC area---my band, THE CONFABULATORS, plays
with NIGHT SHIFT on Friday night at the Grog and Tankard on Wisconsin Avenue in
the upper Georgetown/Cathedral area. Hope to see you there.

---Randy "Blowin' All Night" Lilleston