Overblows--Further Guidance Requested

[spider47@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Harp-Lers, 

Well I started with just a few minutes at work, but now I'm totally
addicted to Harp-L (it led to a modem at home, a slip connection and a
dozen or so harps from Farrell--I'm afraid to count.)  It also led to
acheiving the overblows/overdraws, more or less. And it didn't stop
there I fell into old habits of tongue blocking.  Thanks guys.

So what does a guy with thirty years experiance of ignoring musical
formalities do with overblows once he's got 'em?  I know why I wanted
the six hole overblow(flatted third,) but once I got that I couldn't
stop at just one (bet a lot of you guys couldn't either.)  I'm
currently doing scales, and I'm trying to avoid arpeggios--I'm wanting
some short cuts--I've only got so much time left and I want to play
these little beasties out just to prove it can be done.  (I've met some
players who refused to believe such stuff existed.)

Perhaps more fun will be this little list of things that I gotta dump
on somebody (after all there are only so many ways to say there are no
shortcuts:)

1.  Overblows/draws are powerful notes; they are much stonger than
anything else in the middle of the harp and can compete with all but
the the low draw notes and the high blow notes.  (I am thinking this to
be true--other opinions please before I waste more time trying to get
them up to what I imagine is their full strength.)

2.  You can 'bend' overblows/draws (I think I did this
once--possible?)--this must be a fairly advanced skill. 

3.  When  I tongue-block octaves, I stick the harp so far back in my
mouth that the airflow back that seems to trigger something that is
almost a gag reflex and seems to give me a reasonally subtle vibrato.
Could this be the reason for tongue blocking's reputation for tone?

4.  Am I ever going to get any real volume by tongue-blocking?  I think
I'm losing 50-75% of my volume when I go to an octave from a pucker
which nets me about the opposite effect I was planning on when I went
to the trouble to learn the trick. 

Thanks again to this list for helping me get excited about the
technical tricks of harp playing again.  And I hope there is enough
meat in here somewhere to ...

Bill 'Spider' Schaumburg
Spider47@xxxxxxxxxxxx