[Harp-L] RE: Consecutive overblows (WAS Howard Levy update)

[<alliance@xxxxxxxxx>]

Good to hear from you Georgie . . . No, I don't have a specific recollection
to add to your rendering . . . I would think that Carlos probably just
chuckled and shook his head if asked to perform something like that in 1991
by Howard . . . Rosco and Larry Eisenberg were both there as well, maybe
they would have something further to add in that regard . . . 
The quality of the harps was a big issue back then; Carlos had just come up
with the 'gapping' solution maybe a year or two before; only stock harps
other than that . . . 
As far as your Eb Minor chord exercise . .. good stuff, though for myself I
just plain don't play first hole overblows (except to 'ghost' them) because
the 'set-up' isn't worth the lack of response I get from the harps . . .
I've heard Alan Holmes play them really well, probably Michalek can play
them really well too, but I've always had a really hard time with them . . .

Regards, Paul Messinger/Chapel Hill NC

 
-----Original Message-----
From: George Brooks [mailto:gbrooks1@xxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 8:01 PM
To: Harp-L; WinslowYerxa@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Paul Messenger
Subject: Consecutive overblows (WAS Howard Levy update)

Winslow writes:

 >On top of that, the tunes I heard express an important
 >concept that I seldom hear talked about or utilized:
 >the way that overblows lie on the harmonica
 >RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER. For instance, he
 >exploits the Eb minor arpeggio that lies naturally
 >in the overblows in Holes 4, 5, and 6 on a C harp.

Paul Messinger tells a story from The Golden Age Of Augusta, back when 
Howard Levy taught there.  Paul may even have this moment on videotape. 
  Howard had amazing technique back then (1992 or so), but he has 
advanced tremendously in the intervening 14 years, as has the 
understanding of how to set up short harps for chromatic playing.  So 
back in '92, he mentions to his class that it should be possible to do 
a clean run of consecutive overblows.  He may have even referred to 
arpeggiating the Eb minor triad.  And the most advanced overblowers of 
the day, among them Carlos del Junco and Sandy Weltman, raise a chorus 
of "No way, man!  That's impossible!"  Maybe Paul will chime in and 
tell the story more accurately, or just better.  He was there.

The technique is better understood now, and the harmonicas are vastly 
improved.  I know several people who can cleanly articulate the Eb 
minor triad in the middle register.  If that's old hat to you by now, 
here is something truly challenging to try.  I have been working lately 
on playing various scales and arpeggios over the full range of the 
harmonica.  Have a go at arpeggiating an Eb minor chord  beginning on 
hole 1 and extending it all the way to hole 10.  Here's the mechanics:

1OB (Eb)
2 Draw half-step bend (Gb)
3 Draw half-step bend (Bb)
4 Draw bend	(Db)
5 Draw (F)
6 Draw bend (Ab)
7 Blow (C)
8 Blow bend (Eb)
9 Blow bend (Gb)
10 Blow whole step bend (Bb)
10 OD (Db)

Noter the minimal number of breath direction changes, especially if you 
leave off the 10 OD.  There are 5 (!) draw notes in a row, followed by 
4 blow notes, and, if one leaves out the 10 OD, there is exactly one 
note per hole and no skipped holes.

I played this for Chris Michalek over the phone.  He said my 1OB was 
flat, and he was right.  Back to work!

George