[Harp-L] Howard Levy seminar in NYC, March 22 2008

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I attended the Howard Levy seminar arranged by Zvi Aranoff in NYC 
yesterday, and it was a thoroughly inspiring 2-plus hours.  With about a 
dozen people in attendance, and beginning with an illustration of first 
position blues played on a C-harp (a Filisko with rock maple laminate 
comb, Hohner Marine Band reed plates, and special 20 covers), Howard 
discussed his techniques in great detail, covering breathing pattern 
exercises, overblowing and overbending techniques, harmonica choices and 
setups and their implications for technique and tone, and much more.  It 
felt like a 2-hour private lesson; I didn't have a question going in 
that wasn't answered in depth before I left.  (One of the things that 
became evident, in Howard's playing as well as his comments, is that he 
practices a hell of a lot, as in hours per day, and he analyzes his own 
playing very carefully to find weaknesses and solutions.  As noted 
previously in discussion on Harp-L and elsewhere, if you want to play at 
the technical level of a Levy or a Bonfiglio, that's the door charge.)

Attendees were permitted to audio record the proceedings, and my 
cherished Zoom H4 produced an excellent recording of the session from 
about 3:40 PM to 6:05 PM, when I had to leave, though Howard and the 
attendees were apparently still going strong. Zvi Aranoff video taped 
the proceedings as well.  The session included several pieces played by 
Howard and accompanied by his Chicago-based guitarist and Howard's son 
on drums, and one or two pieces played by Howard on harmonica while he 
accompanied himself on piano.

The question has come up on Harptalk before as to whether Howard plays 
all his gigs with a single harmonica, and I made sure to ask about that. 
 Howard replied that he uses harmonicas in multiple keys on his gigs, 
even though--as he demonstrated by playing a very convincing bebop blues 
in C# on a C harmonica--he can certainly play in 12 keys on a single 
instrument.  The reason, of course, is that he gets certain chords and 
effects by playing in certain positions.

I've expressed a lot of reservations in the past about fully chromatic 
playing on the diatonic.  Those reservations don't seem to apply in 
Howard's case.  Certainly I heard occasional tuning or tone anomalies, 
but the whole efect was so musical that those issues just didn't seem to 
matter very much.  The playing was most often simply, purely dazzling.

This was one of the very best-spent days I have had where learning about 
harmonica is concerned.  I strongly urge everyone reading this to take 
advantage of any similar opportunity that comes their way.  Thanks to 
Zvi Aranoff, and other Harp-L members such as Rob Paparozzi, for making 
events like this possible on this and other occasions.

Regards, Richard Hunter
hunterharp.com
harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
Latest mp3s always at http://broadjam.com/rhunter