[Harp-L] Symmetric intervals and bleeding lips

[Jonathan Hill <jonathan.f.hill@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm a recent convert to the Church of the OB (*grin*) and in my
practice last night was attempting symmetric intervals. I started
playing the chromatic scale up and down a few dozen times, then I
played both instances of the whole-tone scale, then I graduated to
minor thirds and made it up to 4ths before I finally decided to go to
bed. So there's this tune our band plays called "City By the Sea" that
has this kind of floaty, melancholy sound to it and I've been pretty
unsatisfied with what I've been adding to it. But in my practice last
night was playing some descending minor and major third figures that I
thought might go well with the tune which is mostly in A minor. To
give you an idea, before I was just kinda noodling in 4th position on
a C diatonic. Now most of the stuff I add to the band is atmospheric
as opposed to performing solos or even playing melodically. But I'm
trying to find a hybrid of the two styles. So I'm trying to come up
with different ways to add drama or what-have-you with playing just a
few notes. The symmetric intervals thing seemed to work last night in
my practice, but I'm looking for a foundation of knowledge for how all
this stuff works. Maybe a tutorial on what different intervals do and
how to use them or not to use them. Anyhow, I know this is
long-winded, but I appreciate any thoughts on this.

Not really related, but a couple of my primary harps (A and C) are
both Blues Harps and after playing just a couple of hours, my lips are
completely raw with these. I can't buy new harps...yet. Again, anyone
have any ideas? Thanks

Jon