Re: [Harp-L] Custom harmonicas: filisko method...(longish)

["Mike and Beverly Rogers" <mbrogers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Amen to the statement about exposing your bad habits.  I've been using my
first custom, from Tim Moyer.  I work with that harp every day, to lighten
my touch.  At first, I was choking notes, but things are getting better with
practice, practice, practice.  i find I'm playing my stock hrps the same
way, and it's okay.  Bullfrog
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Maglinte" <bbqbob917@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Ken Ficara" <kenficara@xxxxxxxxx>; <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 12:54 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Custom harmonicas: filisko method...(longish)


>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Ken Ficara" <kenficara@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 12:05 PM
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Custom harmonicas: filisko method...(longish)
>
>
> > Well, I just finished my set of Sleigh harps with a new shipment from
> > Richard and I'm thrilled. I think that the biggest advantage of these
> > harps is that you can play them much more gently than a stock harp and
> > get better tone and response. I can play what I need to play on a
> > stock harp, but it takes more work, and I find that the lighter the
> > touch, the better the playing.
> >
> > Ken
>
> Hi,
> That's basically the case with all custom harps, which I can personally
> attest to. For beginners, there's NO WAY in the world I'd recommend them
> ever getting custom stuff because it'll take a bit of time for them to
> unlearn bad habits, and one bad habit 90% of all beginners will have is
> playing the instrument excessively hard all the time, especially during
the
> bending process. Playing much more gently even on a stock instrument will
> give better tone, greater overall agility, and will help keep the reeds in
> tune MUCH longer, and as a result, you don't blow them out quickly. All
the
> players who constantly whine all the time about their stock harps blowing
> quick are usually the same people who play way too hard all the time in
the
> first place, and far too often, they haven't really made a concerted
effort
> to unlearn this really bad habit in the mistaken notion that their tone
will
> suffer, which if anything, will improve it, and they will blow out a
custom
> harp even quicker than a stock instrument. There were no custom diatonics
> around when I used to see Big Walter Horton play, and he played much
gentler
> on a harp than the average player does, and his tone as well as tone
control
> was nothing short of awesome.
>
> The customs, to me, won't make you a better player if you don't really
have
> the skills yet to begin with, but it makes everything unquestionably much
> easier to play, and when you unlearn the average harp player's bad  habit
of
> playing excessively hard all the time, you should be able to get not
months
> out of any harp, but YEARS out of them, most especially on a custom
> instrument. Great instruments won't hide poor playing habits for a
> nanosecond, but they will surely expose them in a  hurry.
>
> Sincerely,
> Barbeque Bob Maglinte
> Boston, MA
> http://www.barbequebob.com
> MP3's: http://music.mp3lizard.com/barbequebob/
>
>
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>