Re: [Harp-L] Creating solid notes through bending techinques - wasSummertime on A Diatonic

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The question I'd be asking the students, and myself, is whether they can actually 'hear' the note in question.
If they haven't got a firm idea of that Bb (C-harp-talk) like an aural picture, how are they going to pitch it?
A lot of people under a certain age (and quite a few over it, where I come from) have done little singing or had any kind of musical participation in there lives (thank you, technology, market forces, shopping malls, cars etc. etc.) and are the equivalent of being musically colour-blind, or tone deaf, in a practical sense, I guess you'd say, even though they might be moved by music; moved by music, like a dog barking at the moon.
RD


>>> <IcemanLE@xxxxxxx> 3/10/2008 1:09 >>>
Why not spend the time it takes to create solid notes through traditional  
bending techniques? 
 
It feels scary, but is not really that hard if you invest the effort. It is  
the fear that keeps most from embracing it.
 
Based on an old exercise I tried during Augusta Blues Week with my int/adv  
class, the reality was that 95% of these players couldn't hit and sustain a  
solid 3 hole inhale first bend - the minor 3rd of the basic cross harp blues  
scale. They were all over the map and none of them could nail this note out of  
the gate.
 
Notes created through traditional bending techniques can be achieved by  
understanding the proper placement of tongue before you initiate the note. Once  
you lock in to proper placement, all you need do is duplicate this  exactly 
every time you wish to create the note. It is such a solid concept  that, once 
learned and absorbed, you can even play with precision if you were to  suddenly 
go totally deaf - playing by the feel alone. (Actually, just get up at  a jam 
session with 2 Stevie Rays on guitar and John Bonham wannabe on drums and  you 
can experience a simulation of playing the harmonica after going  totally 
deaf).
 
However, opening your ears and listening/hearing what you produce is also  
important to finding the correct pitch and then noticing and locking  in where 
your tongue is placed.
 
There is a wealth of notes available in the lowest octave of a diatonic  that 
most never use as notes. Playing in all 12 keys w/out OB is accessible to  
most int/adv players. To examine it further, if you are able to achieve hole 4  
OB, you can have it all (hole 1 OB is extremely difficult - only Carlos Del  
Junco seems able to hit it, sustain it and use it to great effect).
 
The Iceman
 
 
In a message dated 10/1/2008 11:06:05 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
fssharp@xxxxxxxxx writes:

the tune  in 4th position.using standard tuning.  There's quite a few pesky  
3-doubles in there to cover the root, most notably the last note of  the song. 
......... However, note that even in 3rd position, you still  have to hit 
that 3-double at a few critical junctures.   So both 3rd  and 4th pos require 
some precision bending on a standard tuned  harp.




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