[Harp-L] OB Tone and Intonation

[George Brooks <gbrooks1@xxxxxxxxx>]

It was not me that advised against playing exposed overblows, and I am 
not going out on much of a limb in saying that it was not Chris either. 
 If anyone at my table at the teach-in actually said this, my attention 
must have been elsewhere or a spirited discussion would have ensued.  I 
think it is the worst advice.  I say treat them like any other notes.

Playing "How Insensitive" in 5th position doesn't avoid exposed 
overblows.  The "say" in the line "What was I to say?" is a sustained 
5OB.  I like 5th for this song because it allows you to play the 
beginning of the melody ("How insensitive I must have seemed"),  which 
alternates between two notes a semitone apart, without bends in either 
the first or second octave (3 draw to 4 blow or 7 draw to 7 blow).  
Plus, 5th (E on a C harp) is simply a great position for tunes in a 
minor key.

I am glad to see that Larry Eisenberg, who seems to have a great deal 
of credibility on this List, is now dispensing similar advice ("Same 
goes for OB in my more advanced students. Be proud of it.").  At SPAH 
in Dallas, Larry told me his approach was to largely avoid exposed OBs 
and, if I am not mistaken, he has posted in the past to similar effect. 
 Now that he has adopted what I consider to be the correct approach, I 
am eager to hear the inevitable improvement in his playing.

Winslow writes:

>I say go for third and get your overblows to
>the point where you can sustain them with full
>tone, in tune, and bend them up and down at will.

Great advice, but a lot of work.  If you succeed, you will be only the 
third person to do so (Howard and Chris are the other two).   But the 
goal is the correct one if you're going to play overblows.

George