[Harp-L] Re: Jackie

["jazmaan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <dmf273@xxxxxxxxx>]

You guys are a tough crowd!  I don't disagree with any of your criticisms.  But if I wanted to
learn "Jackie" on a chromatic harp, that's what I would have done.   And if I cared about every
note sounding just like every other note, then I would have learned it on a piano.   

For me, the joy and excitement that comes from being able to play a piece like that on a diatonic
harp matters much more than whether some of the bent notes sound bent. I've been playing the XB
for less than one year.  I know I still have a long long way to go.  But as long as I can hear
steady progress, I don't mind a few "tonal differences" in the bent notes.   The tonal differences
may even out a little with a few more years of experience.  If I waited another year or even just
another couple of months before uploading, you might hear a better rendition.  But I'd rather just
get some stuff out there warts and all to show people what I'm working on.

My own criticism of "Jackie" has more to do with the flow of the notes than with the tonal quality
of the bent notes.  The style requires long strings of 8th notes interspersed with triplets.  Some
of those 8th note strings flow very smoothly when they're hitting on adjacent unbent notes.   Some
of the triplets flow really well when they involve bending and releasing on the same hole.  But
those easy passages only serve to highlight the problems of more difficult passages requiring
awkward breath changes or other difficult maneuvers.

Of course you run into the same issue with chromatic harps and much has been written about the
fake "legato" that might be obtained by intentionally chopping up the easy passages so that they
sound more like the difficult ones.  Personally I don't believe in that.  Its too much fun to play
a smooth Fmaj7 run on the XB-Melody.  I'm not going to chop it up just so that it doesn't stand
out. But I do recognize the issue.

I'm still struggling a bit with my 1 and 2 hole blow bends, but they're improving with practice. 
The longer reeds down there are still a little sluggish though.

There's a #10 hole 1/2 step blow bend near the end of the solo that I blew.  Not only did I hit
the Bb instead of the A, but you can hear the hint of fearful hesistation just before I attempt
it.
That's the most difficult note on the harp.  Maybe next year I'll be able to nail it.


Thanks for listening!




> 
> My comments are the usual:
> 1)  Some of the bent notes stick out very noticeably, especially in the head choruses, where the
> listener's expectations are shaped by the melody.
> 2)  The improvised sections work better.  This listener, at least, was able to concentrate more
> on the flow of the lines, and let the very different sound of certain bent notes ride, most of
> the time.
> 
> The XB-40 can certainly be used for chromatic playing, but that's not the primary design goal. 
> The design goal was to produce an instrument with enhanced expressive capabilities, which is why
> every note on the XB-40 bends a whole step (as opposed to a half-step, which is better for
> chromatic playing).  That design goal was achieved.  But the ability to control the sound of
> chromatic pitches is important, especially if you want a fluid line in a style like bebop (or
> baroque, etc.), and that's not what the XB-40 was designed for. 
> 
> I appreciate that this is an example of a work in progress, and that the ultimate goal is a
> fully convincing bebop performance on XB-40.  It appears to me that it's going to take a while
> to get there.  I continue to think that a chromatic harp is a better solution for fully
> chromatic material like bebop, especially given that instruments like the CX12 can produce
> strong, expressive bends up and down the 3-octave range of the harp.  I note that Gregoire Maret
> plays chromatic on most of his jazz material, and I suspect it's for that very reason.
> 
> But either way, it takes years of work to play great bebop.  So as Tony Glover said in "Blues
> Harp," it's your bread, man,  blow as thou pleaseth.
> 
> Regards, Richard Hunter
> 
> 
>