[Harp-L] over-blows

[captron100@xxxxxxx]

 Jeff wrote: Does anyone have good information, instruction, online video, or anything relating on where to get started on how to "over-blow" 



Here is a link where overbends are explained by Mike Will http://www.angelfire.com/tx/myquill/Overblows.html .
Mike's great home site: http://www.angelfire.com/tx/myquill/

Youtube is full of good instructional material.  Here is a very good how-to instruction, the straw technique by one of recently departed experts, Chris Michalek, 
using a C harp. It's titled, "12th pos. The secret to overblowing & bending notes pt 1".  The explanation starts at c. 5:25. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys86fFfylRw 

Here's an explanation posted about a year ago by one of our resident experts, Winslow:

Overbend is a term that includes both overblows and overdraws.
Overbends are the opposite of standard bends:
- They pop up in pitch, to one semitone ABOVE the opposite note
- You get overBLOWs in Holes 1 thru 6 (the same holes where you get draw bends)
- You get overDRAWS in Holes 7 thru 10 (the same holes where you get blow bends)

The note you get with an overbend is always one semitone higher than the highest 
pitched reed in that hole, regardless of the pitch of the other note. Because 
actually, it's that higher reed that's vibrating backwards - pushing away from 
the reedplate instead into it - and sounding nearly a semitone higher. 

So, for instance, in Hole 5 on a C harp, with Blow E and Draw F, you'll get a 
slightly flat F# overblow, nearly one semitone above Draw F that produces the 
note, and only one whole tone above the E. Same thing for the overdraw in Hole 
7, where you have Blow C and Draw B. The Blow C produces the slightly flat C# 
overdraw, which is only a whole tone above Draw B.
Ron - FL Keys