[Harp-L] Re: overblow begginner question

[Divejob@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 4/28/2005 4:57:12 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
<drori_hammer@xxxxxxxxx>writes:

Hi  -
I am a fairly experienced blues harp player and I am trying to teach  myself 
to overblow, with the help of the various websites (if any one can  suggest 
more of these-thanks!) - so far without great  results.


Hah!   You, my friend, are exactly in the position I was in until very 
recently.   I tried to both ignore and understand the overblow concept for about a  
year.  I finally succumbed to the siren song of more knowledge and decided  I 
needed to figure out these much touted in- between notes.
I was unable  to do it myself.  But, that's me.  Your results may vary.  I am 
a  marginal hack whose sole interest in these pesky little fistwhistle 
gizmos, is  to entertain myself.  But, if the note is in there, I want to be able to 
 make it come out.  I tried.  I really did.  I used the archives,  the Tinus 
site etc.  But, my mild retardation manifested itself distinctly  on this 
challenge.
I  finally sat down with the esteemed Mr. Peloquin.  He was able to  show me 
what mechanical tweaks were required to the harp, and get my pea-brain  to 
understand the concept.  Then, the only challenge was making my jaw,  tongue, 
lips and wind cooperate.  I finally got it.  This was about 2  weeks ago.  It's 
now not the great intangible I had feared.  In fact,  I'm finding that, as with 
most things in life, it was more in the build-up than  the execution.   Alas, 
I am waxing pompous.  
My succinct  advice (have I passed that window?), is to track down someone 
that can  physically demonstrate the sounds you seek right in front of you.  It 
will  give you some memory to draw from until you grasp the concept.  Also, 
take  the time to set up your harps per the recommendations.  The tighter  
tolerances have been an unexpected bonus that  have helped the response for  
playing in general.
Good  luck.

 
Ron in  Greenville