Re: [Harp-L] Overblow intonation

[Pierre <plavio@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Robert said:
> 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?

It can be done but it requires a lot of effort to master. Few people can 
really do it.

I just realized I can sharpen the pitch by constricting my throat using a 
guitar tuner as a guide. This is a first for me. Actually after a few 
minutes of practice it starting to seem really easy.

I think there are three steps to learning overblows, the first step is to 
get your first overblow by cheating. This involves placing a pointed tongue 
near the lower front teeth and also gapping very close to the plates. The 
second step is to learn to overblow by leaving the tongue in a 'normal' 
position and to create the overblow by shaping (constricting the air flow) 
the throat. The third step is to sharpen the overblow by further shaping the 
throat which I would say, just comes with time as it is a refinement of step 
2.

I don't overblow much as my focus is on learning other things. Proper use of 
overblows is step 112 for me and I am on step 47 right now.

Blues is the only music that can tolerate some bad intonation, even then it 
depends on the context. I have a friend who plays guitar and he tried to 
play The Phrophet by Garry Moore for me, the tune is all long and slow bent 
notes and its was terrible (no horrible). I did not comment on his playing 
but it sure increased my respect for GM.

Pierre.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Bonfiglio" <bon@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 9:38 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Overblow intonation


> 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
>
>
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