Re: Same Old Thing

["Stephen Shaw" <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

Usually, when I buy a new harp, I dismantle it straight away and tune it/set 
it up for my own style of playing - I play traditional Irish music on 
diatonic harps.  But today,on the same day that I read a post on 
overblowing, I received a brand-new Tombo Folk Blues C harp.  Following the 
instructions in the post, and before fiddling around with the harp, I tried 
the overblow in the 6 blow hole. It worked!  I could get the desired note 
consistently every time - but I couldn't repeat this success in any other 
hole.  I have never tried overblows before.   From my reading around on this 
topic I get the impression that effective overblowing requires close gapping 
of reeds.  The problem is that I have usually found that, with many reeds, I 
actually need to INCREASE the gapping to avoid the problem of choking reeds 
, especially when I am playing fast runs of notes in jigs and reels.  I 
would love to be able to get "missing" notes by overblowing - but the 
question is, is this ambition incompatible with my apparent need for wider 
gapping?  By the way, I am quite proficient when it comes to note-bending.

I am very thick-skinned and am fully prepared to hear criticism of my 
technique - so fire away!!

Steve Shaw.



Want more than the blues?  Try Irish!
http://mysite.freeserve.com/trad_irish_harmonica





>From: AV1901@xxxxxxx
>Reply-To: AV1901@xxxxxxx
>To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Same Old Thing
>Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 12:59:38 EDT

>I'm all for harp innovation when it is done to improve a piece musically.
>Some harp "innovation" I've heard (i.e. overblows/draws, unusual positions,
>processors), for my humble 2 cents, sounds like its being done not so much 
>to meet
>a musical aim but just for the sake of being innovative.

>Are there lots of Harp-L posters who regularly use overblows in 
>performance?
>
>Andy Vincent

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