[Harp-L] scary fast playing

[Steve Merola <stevemerola@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello
Yes Diggs.Exactly.  It was mentioned in the context of trills and asthma. I
never heard Robert Bonfiglio do it. My experience with him was all about
diaphragm and power. He actually uses his lungs like a bellows and plays
nearly as fast and much more articulated. The Toots technique is more like a
soft whistle in and out quickly, hardly a bellows. No lungs...all cheeks. It
lacks power. I did it for Tommy Morgan after hearing him play a ridiculously
fast passage (I didn't know what else to do) and he thought it was good so
I've put it in the arsenal. I think as the great players get more challenges
they develop techniques to meet them. Who knows, maybe someday you'll do a
session where you have to use it.
Try it
Steve Merola


Message: 7
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2009 12:09:22 -0800 (PST)
From: Emile Damico <oatss_oatflakes@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] scary fast playing
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID: <937923.51353.qm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I always thought of this as the bellows effect.
I think Chamber and Robert Bonfiglio show it to me for playing trills that
are blow and draw notes.It can set up a very fast blow draw pattern.
To me it's limited because of that set pattern. It can get a few oohs and
ahs.

Diggs

--- On Sat, 2/7/09, Steve Merola <stevemerola@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Steve Merola <stevemerola@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] scary fast playing
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Saturday, February 7, 2009, 1:49 PM

Hello Harp-l
Toots Thielmans uses this technique. I heard him talk about it at a jazz
seminar offered by NYU in NYC several years ago. It works best if you pucker
but can also be achieved with TB. It works on both diatonic and chromatic.
Steve Merola

Message: 12
Date: Sat, 7 Feb 2009 09:33:28 -0800 (PST)
From: Daniel Velton <dvelton@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] scary fast playing
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Message-ID: <395959.30349.qm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I was experimenting with different ways for playing fast and stumbled on
this technique accidentally. It worked especially well on the higher keys,
and I'm wondering if anyone has tried this technique and/or mastered it...I
haven't had much in the way of professional instruction but I was wondering
if this is a known technique. Here's what you do:

Instead of moving air with your lungs and diaphragm, use only the small
amount of air in your cheeks. Force the air in and out with the cheek and
mouth muscles. There won't be as much air as when you're playing
normally,
but it is sufficient to vibrate the reeds. Doing runs up and down is scarily
fast using this "cheek" method (faster than my brain, at least, can
process
and play accurately). It seems almost like this technique allows you to
change wind direction from draw to blow and vice versa about 10 times faster
than normally.
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