[Harp-L] re: Seamless overblow challenge

[martin oldsberg <martinoldsberg@xxxxxxxxx>]

My ears are very unperfectly pitched and yet I hear several (slightly) disturbing notes in this piece. Because I´m a harmonica player I can identify them as OB:s. 
  It has been demonstrated before on Harp-l and elsewhere that Howard L has come a long long way towrds seamlessness (there´s a fantastic C major blues of his, played in 1 pos in the middle octave that comes to mind, but I don´t remember from where it was taken.) but it´s not there all the time. 
  Whether that´s an "issue" or not is for the individual to decide. The general audience may not react but I know for certain that musicians and discriminating ... listeners can hear it. (Yep, I´ve done some unsystematic research here.)
 
As for me I think that many harmonica players suffer from a form of "aspect blindness" when it comes to the OB question: they may have perfect pitch and so on but just doesn´t hear that some notes stand out in an unpleasant way. 
  This is true as well for some musicians who also sing: they may be formidable instrumentalists, wouldn´t dream of accepting a sour note, but they can´t hear their own crappy singing in it´s crappiness. It just doesn´t register.
  This may cause some awkward moments, it´s a very personal thing to critizise, a bit like saying "Eh, you are ugly."
 
Many years ago a very notable presence on Harp-l, competent musician w/ perfect pitch and all, demonstrated generously his playing in a hell of a lot of keyes on one harp, and I, and a whole lot of others, only heard those fatally sour bends that where all over the place, beautiful tunes energetically massacred. He himself appeared totally untroubled by this, and I found it quite fascinating.
 
Cheers,
Martin
in Sweden (w/ a serious cold and fever so forgive if I´m muddy)
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From: "RON SMITH" <>
-What a waste of time and space on the Overblow Challenge. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PIa-T3pJDY

Does anyone need to get anymore seamless than the above.  I think NOT.
You must have really fast ears.....
Ron