[Harp-L] How Does William Clarke Do It? Chromatic 6 Hole Draw Wail

[ColdRail <gwoodhouse40@xxxxxxx>]

We all know that the man was an absolute fabulous player but I have a 
specific question......My band has been playing his great chromatic jump 
tune "Blowin' Like Hell" and pulling it off pretty well but I can not 
really get that 6 hole draw bending wail that he plays around 1:11 on the 
recorded version from his record of the same name.  I can get a paltry 
immitation of it with a little bit of vibrato and shallow bending but I 
can't seem to get quite enough bend before the reed chokes out.  In fact a 
couple of days ago I was working on this very note and trying different 
tongue positions, mouth cavity shapes, and pressures and had the reed fail 
on my CX-12 Bb.  I doubt it was just this session that caused the failure 
but it probably is me trying to wail this note for the last year that 
shortened the life of this reed.  Mr. Clarke employed this same wail in 
some of his other recorded chromatic tunes.  Is there something in the 
setup (like windsaver removal) that allowed him to get that degree of 
bending?  Is a more traditional Hohner chrom more bendable versus the 
CX-12?  Or is it just the magic that we allow know Bill possessed?
 
Thanks, Glenn