RE: [Harp-L] Valved Diatonic

["MLeFree" <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jeffrey Spoor asked about blow bends on a valved diatonic.

Winslow responded, offering his usual ample wisdom and experience:
> You may find that easing up on the attack will help.
>
> One way to approach this would be to first try to get pitch-based
> vibrato on the valved notes. Each throb of vibrato should push the
> pitch down a tiny bit momentarily. Try to warm the note, up close and
> personal, with the windows steaming up.
>
> Then try just sliding the note down and up a tiny bit, for a languid,
> sensual feel.
>
> As you get command of these shallow bends, push deeper while still
> being gentle. Feel the note resonating in your mouth, throat, and
> chest.
>
> Only after you've found a way to initiate the bend gently should you
> attempt to initiate a more forceful attack or start a bend at a lowered
> pitch...

I could only add that to get started, make sure you are comfortable and
fluid with your 1st position unvalved blow bends on holes 8-10 (and not just
on low-keyed harps). The embouchure and action are very much like what you'd
use for those blow bends, except that as Winslow says, you should back way
off from your usual attack. Like unvalved blow bends, valved blow blow bends
require very delicate touch. Once you get the hang of it, you will be amazed
how low you can get those valved blow bends to go. You can go lower and
lower until you completely choke the note off. In fact, one could accurately
describe the technique for executing valved blow bends as a carefully
controlled "choking" of the note.

The trick is to retain good tone through the extent of the bend. For me
that's the challenge, and the thing that amazes me most about PT Gazell's
playing. He's got such beautiful tone. He is able to use the slightly
different sound of the valved bends as a sort of added expressiveness or
"coloring," cleverly worked into his arrangements. He turns what might be
viewed as a problem or restriction by some into an advantage. A true
"arteeeeest!"

After building the technique to execute valved blow bends well, the next
challenge is learning to incorporate them into your playing. Draw bends are
long since "automatic" for me but it's taking me a long time to incorporate
valved blow bends. I can do it just well enough to be able to state that
when you can get to the point of being able to apply valved blow and
unvalved draw bends with equal facility you will have discovered that the
little valved diatonic is a potent "dual-edged blade," and you've only been
fully using half of it up 'till now. If you don't believe me, just ask PT.
Or perhaps even better, listen to his latest CD.

Good luck, Jeffrey, and let us know how it goes with your valved diatonic
work. To me it's a very exciting approach to playing chromatically that for
some reason gets eclipsed by the furvor surrounding overblowing.

Michelle