[Harp-L] Over Blow Survey

["samblancato" <samblancato@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Robin, 

You had me on everything until:" I dunno and forgive me but I keep hoping to
be moved but so far the diatonic just sounds often like a novelty. Chromatic
is another story altogether."

And the thing is, everything you said before the above is the best argument
for why that isn't true. Now if you're not moved then you're not moved.  And
yes, trying to do Parker or Coltrane runs would put you into a 'novel'
posture on your harp, I agree.  To me it's like when I hear symphony
orchestras do "Purple Haze"; they end up not so much play the thing as aping
it.  So the harp has a much narrower range it can handle without making a
caricature of what you try to play. 

Is that what you mean then? That it becomes a novelty instrument when you
take it outside of a range prescribed by it's technical attributes? 

I'd agree that, like the sax, the harmonica has attributes and
liabilities, and that for the harp, more of the latter.  But I wouldn't call
it a novelty because of that.

Sam Blancato, Pittsburgh  



Robin Wrote:



I don't know I am like lots of folks. 5 and 6 OK... others... rarely.

That's it in a nutshell. I have to say that this overblow thing seems to be
this abstract idea like the perfect amp, the perfect mike, the perfect harp.
Why are we trying to do this? I was listening to some Coltrane last night.
And somehow realized after all these years that on a lot of the atonal stuff
he was really just noodling around with what a sax can do. It was instrument
driven. Technique driven. It was licks. Sometimes I think we harmonica
players are trying to make a silk purse our of a sows ear. Why are we
pursuing this? Why can't I do Charlie Parker runs? Well you can with years
of practice and pain but as good as he was Parker was doing things that he
could only do on a sax. He didn't try to do his stuff on a tin whistle or a
bag pipe. He was using a specific instrument with it's attributes and
liabilities. He too at some level was doing licks. And even if you are
Howard Levy a harmonica is still going to sound like a harmonica. Which can
be a really wonderful sound.

I am encouraged by this four key tuning. And Jazmaan seems to be on to
something. It seems musical and capable of an improvisational way of
thinking... not really lick based. And the tonalities are pretty viable.

For me the diatonic richter tuned harmonica works best at blues based
pentatonic stuff which includes a lot. And it works great. But when it slips
to far into jazz land after my initial awe and amazement I find myself
thinking that I would really rather hear another instrument play those
lines. OK... rock improve wise wise Jason Ricci is in a world of his own but
for jazz... I dunno and forgive me but I keep hoping to be moved but so far
the diatonic just sounds often like a novelty. Chromatic is another story
altogether.

Robin