Re: [Harp-L] Grapes of Wrath

[Robert Bonfiglio <bon@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Noah and list,

I have had two rehearsals with the orchestra only, no singers yet.   
Ricky, the composer, insisted that the harmonica have an amp and I  
said why don't you wait until the rehearsal; then the production guy  
said I had to amp and I said just see if you can hear me in the  
rehearsal.

When rehearsal started, they all agreed they could hear the harmonica  
acoustically just fine. The harmonica is capable of sounding loud in a  
60 piece orchestra as long as you don't cover it with the brass.

 I then started to put all these harmonica parts into the good  
registers for the instrument.  Then asked Ricky if I could echo the  
flute solo on the number 8- Us.  He said fine and I have now added a  
few solo things.  They are not doubling me on the ending solos.  They  
moved me into the woodwinds and my volume has gone up because of  
location.  Sitting next to the piccolo requires an earplug in the left  
ear though.

I have said this before, but it seems to fall on deaf ears, when you  
play classically you have to play with power.  Every other classical  
player in the orchestra knows how to "get on top of their sound" and  
how to focus their sound and get a triple forte sound without sounding  
forced.  Turning the amp up on a softer sound does not achieve the  
same results.  It's not the same emotion.  It's the difference between  
a singer who can really sing in full voice, like opera singers and  
some pop singers do, and someone who doesn't have that so they turn  
the amp up.  Not the same emotion.  And this of course does not mean  
that one doesn't also play triple piano; what it does mean is the  
difference between piano and forte is much bigger.

If this is true in classical music, it has to be true in blues as  
well.  Someone who has a huge acoustical sound is going to be able to  
play with more emotion that someone who doesn't.  In jazz, you  
generally are not looking for this kind of sound, nice to have, but  
not as necessary.  Never the less, the idea of treating the harmonica  
like some delicate toy instead of, in the proper situation, whacking  
the hell out of it, seems silly and counter productive to me.

One of the problems on harmonica of blowing so hard and then riding  
just below where a reed would not play is that the reeds must be  
gapped higher.  But that's another discussion


Harmonically yours,

Robert
http://www.robertbonfiglio.com