Re: [Harp-L] Hohner Educator 10/Chromatic questions

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

It's a myth that you can't play hard on a valved chromatic. Just listen to 
Stevie Wonder, or William Clarke, or Larry Adler, or Leo Diamond, or Robert 
Bonfiglio. They all play(ed) valved chromatics hard and with plenty of 
expression. 

You won't blow out a valve, either. Valves may fall off if the glue weakens, and 
they will buzz and pop if they get gummed up with food residue. Valves can be 
cleaned, straightened if they curl up, re-glued if they fall off, or totally 
replaced.

Harmonica reeds are damaged when they get more energy than they can dissipate in 
normal vibration, or if they're forced to respond to an oral cavity that is 
tuned to a note outside its bending range. You can break reeds on diatonics, 
tremolos, chromatics - whatever. Bending makes no difference if you do it in a 
way that doesn't stress the reed excessively.

Valves increase the efficiency of breath delivery to a reed. This makes the reed 
more sensitive to strong attacks, so playing a valved instrument requires you to 
modify your attack until you figure out how to approach a valved reed. It also 
helps to deliver the air through a fat pipe from a deep place and shape the 
delivery from the throat forward to the lips - but this is true for all 
harmonicas.

Personally, I find the Hohnica Educator 10 to be unbearably leaky. I prefer my 
diatonics unvalved, but I really appreciate how valves open up the expressivity, 
tonal palette, and loudness on chromatics.

Winslow
 Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
Harmonica instructor, The Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance
Resident expert, bluesharmonica.com
Columnist, harmonicasessions.com




________________________________
From: Bill Kumpe <bkumpe@xxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thu, December 30, 2010 4:15:36 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Hohner Educator 10/Chromatic questions

I have been Hohner critic and felt like I needed to record a good Hohner
experience or two (and there are many) when they happen.  I recently ordered
a Hohner Educator 10 as a Christmas present for a friend.  I play a lot with
this guy and knew he wouldn't mind if I "tested" the harp first.  I was
pleasantly surprised.  Very robust harp.  Without the windsavers/valves, I
felt like I could just wail away on it and not hurt anything.  A little
"breathy" perhaps but compared well with my more expensive Chromonica and I
wasn't afraid to just kick back and play it with expression.  I know a lot
of this is subjective and probably due to my own lack of experience on the
chromatic but again, I was pleasantly surprised. But I have a question or
two for the chromatic players on the board.  1.  How hard can I play my
valved Chromonica 10 without doing damage?  I'm not a very hard player but I
have always felt like I needed to apply steady, moderate air pressure only
to get a true sounding note and keep from blowing out a valve.  Is this
true?  Do I need to buy a E10 if I am going to bear down?  2. I use a combo
lip, purse, tongue block on diatonic and don't really pay a lot of attention
to it while playing.  This doesn't seem to work on chromatic.  What
embrochure do I need to cultivate on the chromatic, especially for playing
third position and getting those big old fat bluesy chords.?  





Bill Kumpe

Tulsa, OK