[Harp-L] The overblow wars and the articulation of the overblow

[George Brooks <gbrooks1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Tinus writes:

I am also planning to investigate the differences in articulation and 
their
effects, but I would like to gather opinions before I do that so I don't
miss anything when I look for them.

GB:  I primarily use the glottal stop articulation (the best 
description of how to produce this articulation is, once again, from 
Doug Tate, and it's somewhere back in the archives: try clearing your 
throat so quietly that a person sitting next to you would not hear it). 
 I find that, for me, this articulation minimizes the differences 
between the natural or open notes, the traditional bends, and the 
OB/ODs.  Your experience may well be different, and I look forward to 
reading the results of your research.

===================

Tinus also writes:

An opening reed will produce a different waveform than a closing reed.
However I have 2 questions about this

1. do you think that this difference becomes relatively smaller if the
player plays at a higher volume?

I think that there might be a chance that as the reeds amplitude becomes
bigger the effect of the inherent differences will be smaller. I intend 
to
investigate this, but I am curious to hear peoples opinion.

GB:  My opinion is that volume plays no or, at most, a very minor role. 
 This is based on listening; I have not used spectrum analysis software 
or the like.  But I do know from taking lessons with Howard Levy that, 
to whatever extent he can mask the differences in timbre among the 
notes produced by the various techniques, he can do it at extremely 
soft as well as loud volumes.

=====================

And Tinus closes with:

If anybody has any suggestions for audio analyses software tools that 
would
be greatly appreciated too.

GB:  This is not to discourage in the least the use of waveform 
analysis tools, but the first tool I would use is a high-quality tape 
or hard disk recorder.

George