Re: Learning to Overblow with off the shelf harps

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxx>]

Rob Lowe wrote:
> I guess the question I have is, given the most general 
> circumstances (i.e. the harp is made close enough to its intended 
> specs), should a player expect to be able to play all of the notes 
> on an UN-modified diatonic harp?

Given enough patience and practice, it's probably possible to 
overblow most out-of-the-box harps.  The problem comes in trying to 
overblow them with speed and accuracy, without having to focus on the 
technique, transparently.  The biggest problem with out-of-the-box 
harps is that they are inconsistent, and this will make overblowing 
them very frustrating.  

My experience was that it took a carefully modified harp to *learn* 
to overblow, but once the technique was well developed it was fairly 
easy to do on harps that weren't specifically set up for that 
purpose.  It's rather like discussions that new harmonica players 
have about which harps "bend the easiest".  For those who are playing 
and bending with proficiency, these differences tend to disappear.  
In the same way, I now find that I can overblow most harmonicas with 
not much more than a small gap adjustment, and many times without 
modification at all.  But as Chris once said in a discussion about 
whether Howard Levy could play the way he does on out-of-the-box 
harps, why would you want to?

- -tim