RE: [Harp-L] Re: Overblows in the blues (and anywhere else for thatmatter)

[Jérôme P. <peyrelevade@xxxxxxx>]

Ah ah !
My daughter has learnt violin for few months... so awful sounds coming from
such a beautiful instrument when correctly played! 
I wish she'd practice overblows on and on instead! :-)

Jerome
www.youtube.com/JersiMuse


-----Message d'origine-----
De : harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] De la part
de icemanle@xxxxxxx
Envoyé : mardi 23 février 2010 15:17
À : rhhammersley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Objet : Re: [Harp-L] Re: Overblows in the blues (and anywhere else for
thatmatter)


 hmmm, sounds exactly like the noise I made when learning how to bend the 2
hole inhale......


 mastering overblows takes a lot of practice, including some of the less
pleasant kind of practice where you make annoying noises rather than
anything even vaguely musical.

 

 


 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Hammersley <rhhammersley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Mon, Feb 22, 2010 7:23 pm
Subject: [Harp-L] Re: Overblows in the blues (and anywhere else for that
matter)


People have been getting tetchy again about whether overblows are good or
not so good. "Good" seems to mean sufficiently stable in tone, pitch, volume
and timbre to be usable musically. As Buddha points out, some players
clearly can do this, at least to my ears. However, mastering overblows takes
a lot of practice, including some of the less pleasant kind of practice
where you make annoying noises rather than anything even vaguely musical.
Also, it requires a tweaked, or even customised harp. I am learning
overblows out of interest, but I prefer the other route to being able to
play chromatically on a diatonic, which is to use valved harps. Please do
not reply telling me how expensive they are, because they are buttons
compared to, say, a custom tube amp. I use XB-40s and Suzuki MR350 valved.
When I started trying them I preferred the Suzuki's but I now prefer the
XB-40s. They take a bit more practice to get used to the larger size and to
hitting the bends properly. I think these are the way forwards for the less
patient or dedicated intermediate player. Of course in the lips of beginners
they could be aural torment as everything can be bent even when it should
not be. 
 
Richard 
 
Richard Hammersley 
Grantshouse, Scottish Borders 
http://www.last.fm/music/Richard+Hammersley 
http://www.myspace.com/rhammersley 
http://www.myspace.com/magpiesittingdown