Re: [Harp-L] 20th Anniversary of the Half-Valved Harmonica

[George Miklas <harmonicat@xxxxxxxxx>]

Brendan,

This is a really nice video.

George

On Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 6:58 AM, Brendan Power <bren@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> Nowadays we're blessed with a cornucopia of diatonic harmonica types and
> performance options: from Overblowing to the Overdrive, Discrete Combs to
> the TurboSlide, the ELX to the XB-40.
>
> It's easy to forget that after the production of the first popular 10 hole
> diatonic harmonica (the iconic 1896 Hohner Marine Band), very little
> development of the format occurred for 90 years. There were some cosmetic
> changes (eg. moulded plastic and alloy combs in some models), but in terms
> of actual functionality and construction the 10 hole harp remained
> basically
> the same: a comb, two coverplates and two reedplates.
>
> That all changed in 1991 with the launch of Suzuki's Promaster MR350-V, the
> first 10 hole diatonic to offer players something totally new. It included
> 10 valves, strategically placed to allow extra bending expression on the
> low-pitched notes in each hole (the lower 6 blow notes and the upper 4 draw
> notes) in addition to the double-reed bends already available.
>
> I'm proud to have been the originator of the half-valved concept for
> diatonic (and chromatic) harps. The format is becoming increasingly
> popular,
> especially through the work of PT Gazell in the swing jazz style he plays
> so
> well, but also in the folk/Irish scene (most harp players choose
> half-valved
> harps for that music). Seydel's introduction of the PT Gazell Method
> half-valved harps last year is an indication of the growing interest.
>
> To mark the 20th anniversary of the launch of the original half-valved
> harp,
> I have recorded a video on how the idea came to me and was taken up by
> Suzuki, as well as performance examples of the benefits of half-valving:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtxuZXcCNd8
>
> Enjoy!
>
> Brendan Power
> WEBSITE: http://www.brendan-power.com
> YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic
>
>
>