[Harp-L] Re: overblows

["Jonathan Metts" <jonathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It sounds like you are getting close and doing pretty much the right thing to get your first overblow.  One problem is that you're using a Lee Oskar to learn.  I have these harps, and I love them for some things, but Hohners are much easier for overblowing.  That high-pitched squeal you are getting is torsional reed vibration specifically caused by the thinner Lee Oskar reeds.  You can dampen it a bit with a lot of practice, or with some mods like beeswax.

One of the hard things about overblows is that you cannot hear the note bending up.  That's a big difference between overblows and normal bends.  When you overblow, the blow reed eventually chokes, and the draw reed starts to make sound (with practice, you can make these events happen simultaneously).  Because of how the technique works, the overblow doesn't gradually come in like a normal bend.  It just pops out suddenly.  Once second you're getting no sound (the reed is choking), the next second a flat-sounding higher note pops out.  That's the overblow note.

At first, it is very hard to sustain overblows.  Once you can make the note pop out on most tries, work on holding the overblow note for as long as possible without it squealing.  From there, you can make very fine adjustments to the pressure to reduce the flatness of the overblow.  Then it will sound like any other note on the harp (except it's not normally available!) and you can really mix it in with your music.

Jonathan Metts