Re: Levy, overblows & passing notes

[Mike Curtis <wd6ehr@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> 
> At  9:58 PM 3/29/95 -0800, Mike Curtis wrote:
> 
> >Does anyone have information to the contrary?  Is there any overblow
> >player who gets _every_ overblow/draw as perfectly as all the other notes?
> >If so, I stand corrected.  If not, then what I stated is true - at least
> >until someone perfects it - and this well may be possible.  If it is, I
> >may remove the valve from my 9 hole and use an overdraw to "fix" the lack
> >of the perfect Ab in my valved C :-)
> 
> The issue for me is defining your term "perfectly" -- from what I've heard,
> Christian Michalek obtains most if not all of these OB/OD notes very
> solidly and sustainably.

Chris's tape is quite impressive, and Chris is an excellent player.  
Maybe he'll comment regarding all overblows and overdraws and their 
sustainability, tonality, etc.

> I don't think that equates with "easier" though.
> The timbre and harmonic content are obviously different than purely
> blown/drawn notes or the bent notes.

I agree, and this wasn't what I had in mind.  All natural notes are 
readily discernable as such, as are all bends, etc.

> I imagine that your valve bent notes
> are also subtley different sounding than the conventional bent notes 9may
> not be discerable on tape, but only ~live~).

I play almost exclusively through my rack pickup, and use a direct box, so
my tape should be very close to my live sound, at least regarding the
harp.  I'm probably not the best one to ask that of, though - I hear
what's inside me and my respiratory system, or what's on the tape.  But to
me, valve bends sound identical to normal bends. 

> All of these factors add even
> more color to the instrument and for me is its main charm  -- all the
> different tones you try to get as a matter of course.

Absolutely!  You're preachin' to the choir!  Any instrument that sounds
the same all the time is boring, even if it is someone as polished and
accomplished as Kenny G.  (Neither my wife nor I can take him very long.)
We think of him (and the univoiced Michael Bolton) as the musical version
of soothing pink Pepto-Bismol.  I'd rather listen to a rowdy Muddy Waters,
Gary Primich, William Clarke, Kim Wilson, or even the Ramones for that
matter :-) Wierd Al Yankovich has a song called "I'll be mellow when I'm
dead" that pretty well sums up my opinion on this.  Lines like "I'll have
plenty of time to be laid back when I'm laid out on a slab", and "No
Joannie Mitchell 8 tracks in my car (WOOO!)".  (Very funny tune, even 
though it has no harmonica :-(

> Some people prefer consistency in tone and that may be what you are
> refering to in your use of the term "perfectly", that is, most notes
> "sound" the same from a timbre standpoint (you said "full, fat,& fast").
> The color you add is just in phrasing, glissando, volume variation, etc.

Let me rephrase it then.

I like the ability to get consistent sounds, but I also like the ability 
to get DIFFERENT sounds.  When I'm doing a run of mellow, opulent notes, 
I don't want a cardboardlike squawk from an awkward note.  However, I may 
well want that "cardboard" sound on something else where it fits.

While I usually like big, fat sounding harp, I do some tunes with poor 
internal resonance standing back a foot or two from the mic - because I 
want "that sound".

I use an octave divider, slapback echo, reverb, and Dr. Q envelope
follower (volume actuated wah-wah effect) on my harp.  I like variety,
subtlety (although the Dr. Q is anything but subtle :-), and
expressiveness.  I also use a lot of dynamics (Dynamics?  I'm playing as
loud as I can :-), sometimes using decrescendo to ppp, and the audience
has to stop conversation, etc., to hear (obviously, this can be done only
when you have their rapt attention :-), and working my way back up to fff. 

What I refer to as "perfect" is not a particular "sound" - it's a lack of 
variety in the reed - when it's useful only "as a note".

Bottom line: I want a lot of variety - but at my beck and call.  And I
want variety on ALL of my notes.  I don't want one unique sound married to
a singular note and not reproducible on others.


 -- mike