[Harp-L] Overblow intonation

[Robert Bonfiglio <bon@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear List,

Had a nice concerto with the Memphis Symphony last weekend.  Good 
review:
"Rarely have audiences so flocked to the autograph table than after the 
evening's soloist, Robert Bonfiglio, completed Villa-Lobos's Concerto 
for Harmonica and Orchestra (and three rousing encores in the blues 
vein.)

Ah, to have an acoustically marvelous hall like the Cannon Center, and 
lungs like a pearl diver. Bonfiglio's notes -- from the softest, 
thinnest high notes, to low notes bent into fascinating shapes and 
sounds -- played brilliantly over a well-tempered orchestra. After 
showing the harmonica's range in the classical mode, he put on a fine 
show for the cheering fans with his honking, bluesy encores.

The gamut had already been run before Dvorak began. Bonfiglio showed 
that even an inexpensive, folksy instrument can be multidimensional."


But during the preconcert talk, got a question about if I play diatonic 
with overblows and what I thought about it.  I said that I was unable 
to play the overblows in tune and therefore found the diatonic not 
appropriate for the concerti I play since intonation is such a big part 
of classical music.  Also, I mentioned that the concerti I play were 
written for chromatic which makes them unplayable on the diatonic.

The best I can do on say a hole 6 blow bend if the harp is tuned to 442 
is about 430 calibrated.  That makes the note so flat as to be 
unacceptable in the classical context.  Now I don't know about jazz, 
but in classical music if you play that flat it sounds like a clam.  Is 
there any way to blow this in tune, because I sure can't?

Harmonically yours,

Robert Bonfiglio