Re: [Harp-L] Design project, Harmonica Mic - please help




On May 24, 2009, at 3:51 PM, Splash wrote:


10 fingers... and two feet. 3 pedals on piano and as many as 10 pedals on
organ.


PEACE
Splash
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe and Cass Leone" <deleted>
To: "Vern Smith" <deleted>
Cc: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
I agree about
the keyboard...As many as TEN fingers all going at the same time. Top
THAT.

Yes, I knew that but I figured TEN fingers was already enough to overwhelm anything else. Our B3 player once spent 5 months JUST working on the pedals. According to him: "There's a whole n'other organ down there'." I was laughing behind my eyes as he said that because I already knew that Jimmy Smith had done the same thing. In fact, Jimmy spent a year. (btw, takes quite a bit of bread to use a year that way). Of course, some keyboardists only use a couple thumbs.

Now a sax/clar can ALSO utilize as many as NINE fingers all working..BUT they aren't ALL actually working. Some are holding paddles closed, some are arched in the 'open' position. If I had to haZard a guess, I would say that not more than 6 fingers are actually doing anything at any one time. (mostly because of the pitch- shifting). I tried that out with 'Claire' and 'Annette' out in the garage. With 'picked' guitar, it might be 4-5 left hand and 3-4 right. But most rock guitarists are only using a couple paws.

Then there's violin/fiddle. A lot of people talk (and make a big deal) about an instrument being ON pitch. Well, a violin is almost NEVER exactly on pitch. Having no frets, you are at the mercy of the player being very muscle memory left handed while having a right elbow that is in a virtual bath of ball bearings and oil.

I only brought up what I did because we were talking about horns and Vern mentioned keyboards. I think the original subject was mics, so we did stray way off topic. As far as trumpets, THEY are one of the easiest. There are only a finite combinations of valve positions. The rest is done by embouchure. Once you can get the 4 (major) embouchures, you're home. Changing embouchures QUICKLY is where it's at, and that's what takes the practice.

smokey joe (not the BBQ grill) and the Cafe s (not the musical)



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