Re: [Harp-L] Re: OB style Klezmer on the diatonic - introducingJasonRosenblatt

["Tim Moyer - Working Man's Harps" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 08:57 PM 11/18/2004 +0100, lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Would you rather hear Carlos del Junco integrate a bridge going through all
> keys in a blues songs with many squeaks, chokes and lost rhythmic patterns,
> just because that's devilishly tricky ? Not to slam Carlos, there's loads of
> stuff he's done that I love, but I'd rather he simply hadn't done that...

I agree with you completely here, Ben.  But I think this doesn't work, not
because of the squeaks and squeals, but because it's a bad idea, musically.
 There's no musical point to rotating through the keys here; it's done as a
parlor trick, and its sole purpose is to impress people who understand how
hard it is to do on a diatonic instrument.  Outside of this conceptual
value, it has no appeal.  If he'd done it "flawlessly" it still wouldn't
have worked, in my opinion.  In this case, you're right, he did it because
he could.  Sort of.  

> To me, the consummate harp player is someone whose playing will appeal to
> anyone. That kind of stuff only appeals to harp players because they are
> impressed by the technicality of it.

Exactly.  But as a counterpoint to the Del Junco example, take Norton
Buffalo's solo on Bonnie Raitt's "Runaway".  It rotates through four key
changes twice, with Norton changing harps for each key change.  Not
terribly technically challenging (aside from the dexterous harp swapping),
but it *sounds* great!  Would this have worked if he'd done it all on one
harp?  Would it have *added* to it if he'd done it all on one harp?  If
he'd had the ability to play it all on one harp (Norton's not an
overblower), would the solo have been written differently?  Quite probably.
 But now that it's done, is it valid to try to copy it, all on one harp?
I'd prefer to see something new and different.  

>> In fact, it's very difficult to hit overblows
>> quickly and in passing without choking them.
>
> But it's even harder to play certain sequences of note slowly, trying to
> have round and beautiful notes that include obs. I think that was his point,
> to some extent (and a lousy cop-out to boot).

I'm not sure I agree with this.  Maybe if you have a pitch reference, like
an accompanying instrument; but this aside, I think there are plenty of
players who have demonstrated a strong command of this technique, with
beautiful intonation and pitch control.  

>> Something Rosco said to me at the Filisko workshop at SPAH this year
>> stuck with me.  He said that when he's got a melody or a line that
>> has a note with possibly questionable intonation, like a precise
>> bend or overbend, that's a note he's going to lean on, to emphasize,
>> to push to the limit.  His demonstration of that was eye-opening
>> (and ear-opening).  Now, is that musicality or technique?  In my
>> opinion, it is both.
>
> I agree. But the fact that he works on it doesn't necessarily mean that it
> will ultimately sound good...

Well, an overblow is, after all, a technique.  You can't determine in
advance whether or not it will be used to good musical end.  In my opinion,
it's like asking, "Should we use chords?" or "Should we use bent notes?"
All can be done tastefully or not.  Technique is not a substitute for
taste.  And a technique like overblowing isn't a free pass to do things
that are otherwise bad ideas musically.  But like other techniques, it can
be used tastefully.  

> I shouldn't have focused on overblowers, these traits are shared by many
> harp players (and porbably many other instrumlentists full stop) It's just
> that a lot of people seem to focus on overblowers as being the top of the
> game, and my point (which was poorly expressed, I guess) was that despite
> their technical mastery, they were not, on average, better musicians to my
> ears than all the rest of the harp players.

Learning to play overblows opened doors for me.  After almost 30 years of
playing, it boosted me from a long, flat plateau, and got me interested in
what I could do with a harmonica.  Overblown notes aside, the development
of the technique -- the breath control, the embouchure control, etc. that
it requires -- changed forever the way I play the instrument and made me a
better harmonica player, whether or not I use them.  Listening to other
players who use overblows -- Carlos Del Junco, Howard Levy, Greg
Szlapczynski, and the many overblow players I met at SPAH -- made me a
better musician.  I'm certainly not saying anyone who overblows is a better
musician than anyone who doesn't.  There are lots of great harp players who
don't use overblows.  

-tim

Tim Moyer
Working Man's Harps
http://www.workingmansharps.com/