[Harp-L] Howard Levy overblows out of the box

[Ansel Barnum <Ansel.Barnum@xxxxxxx>]

Every flummoxed overblower wants to believe it’s the harp (dammit!) which is defective—-not the 
player. Believe me, I know! I wish a pro would pick up my harp and struggle as much as I, confirming 
what certainly must be the source of the problem: the gear. Well, last weekend I got my wish, 
although the outcome was not what I’d hoped.

During a break at Howard Levy’s workshop in NYC, a student came up to him and asked the perennial 
question: Is it possible to overblow an out of the box harmonica? Howard looked down at the suspect 
Marine Band in the clutches of the humble inquirer, asked if it was new (“almost” came the earnest 
answer), rolled his eyes with a what-the-hell, and extended a trusting hand to accept the instrument 
in question. To an audience of incredulous ears and jaws agape, he ran up and down the ten holes of 
the stock Marine Band like it was a custom Filisko. Well, almost. After blowing musical brilliance 
through the $20 toy, he declared, “Not bad, although it doesn’t overdraw.” Of course, at the speed 
he played the fusillade of notes, you’d never know.

When he handed back the harp to its owner, there was smoke pouring from the vents in the cover 
plates. The wooden comb surprisingly hadn’t caught fire, but the equipment excuse long blamed by 
frustrated overblowers had been burned to ashes.


Ansel