[Harp-L] Half-Valved Chromatics and Stuff

["Brendan Power" <bren@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

To respond to various aspects of the half-valved chromatic discussion:
 
Re. the music links in my reply to Walter, it was a problem with how
they were copied, and the list owner has now fixed them in the original
post. If you still can't get them, they can be found on my website at
the 'Farrago', 'CPR' and 'Tradish' pages - plus plenty of others using
half-valved chroms and diatonics.
 
Thanks to everyone who sent me positive comments about my music. Being
told by Walter the tunes have "balls" is a compliment in my book,
Elizabeth! Just to confirm, Walter, yes, they are all played on
chromatic harmonicas that have been half-valved.
 
In reply to Phil Lloyd, who said of removing valves: "This only makes
the harp leaky and does not add any notes": with respect, the bending on
the draw reeds achieved by removing the outside valves on the
odd-numbered holes of a solo-tuned chromatic (holes 1,3 5,7,9,11) is
totally different to the valved bends you can get on a normal chromatic.
It is the same kind of interactive reed bending you get on a diatonic,
which is much more controllable in pitch and has a fatter, juicier tone.

 
It makes the instrument more expressive and gives you lots of extra and
very usable enharmonic notes (eg. draw bend 5 is the same note as blow 5
slide in (C#), but has a sexier sound and can be used more easily in a
lot of phrases). Those are the reasons for doing it, and if you follow
the advice I gave in my post, you will have a chromatic that is not at
all 'leaky'. If you check out the sound of the chroms on the music clips
I posted (or the ones below), you will hear that there is no 'leakiness'
apparent.
 
Re. applying Vaseline to a chromatic's slider: yes, I was talking about
the slightest dusting! All stock chromatics (with the notable exception
of the Suzuki SC series) come with sliders that are made deliberately
with sloppy tolerances, so they won't jam under general use and
consequently there won't be lots of customer complaints and returns. But
if you want to make your chrom play a lot more sweetly, valved or
half-valved, it is very beneficial to make it as airtight as possible
whilst still sliding easily. Putting a lubricant on the slider is one
easy way to achieve this.
 
Franz Chmel, the great Austrian classical player, recommends Paraffin
Oil (see his excellent website with great workshop tutorials and music
clips: http://www.chmel.at/sites/index_en.html). I put a very thin
coating of Vaseline on by smearing a bit on my finger and lightly
dabbing it on. It's easy to wipe off the excess if there is too much.
You soon get an idea of how much to apply. The advantage of this is that
it's quick, easy to do, makes the harmonica more responsive and quietens
the slider noise. It does no harm at all to the instrument or you.
 
Here are a couple more MP3 clips played on half-valved chroms from the
new CD 'Farrago', recorded live with Tim Edey and Lucy Randall:
 
http://www.brendan-power.com/Music%20Clips/Tim%20Edey%20Band/Radio%202%2
0Excerpt.mp3
 
http://www.brendan-power.com/Music%20Clips/Tim%20Edey%20Band/Congress%20
Reel%20Clip.mp3
 
Brendan
WEB: http://www.brendan-power.com <http://www.brendan-power.com/>