[Harp-L] RE: MIC HOLDING

[Greg Heumann <greg@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

One other note on this topic. There is a wide variety of hand effects  
possible with bullet mics. But getting at them takes practice. Most  
beginners haven't developed a good tight cup, which involves sealing  
the harp to the mic as most people know (and even that isn't as easy  
as it sounds), but (and I've said this before) ALSO SEALING THE FRONT  
OF THE HARP. The deepest fattest tone comes when NO AIR comes through  
the unplayed reeds and then out the front of the harp. You must seal  
all unplayed holes with your hands and your face. If you can't achieve  
this, you don't have nearly as wide a range of hand expression as you  
could. I see many beginners move their hands around a lot, but you  
can't hear much difference in the audience. As you get better at this,  
the range of expression from full cupped/sealed to uncupped is much  
greater.  Note that this technique is equally valid when playing  
acoustic. Dave Barrett is a master at this technique and has (had? I  
can't find them now) some excellent YouTube lessons on the subject.

/Greg

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