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

[David Wilson <harpoon_man@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

After going back and listening to it, I'm pretty sure Clarke does not switch to a diatonic here - it's still the chromatic.  I can't really give you any pointers on how to get that wail/vibrato on the chromatic, but IMO, it's just a case of William Clarke being able to impose his will on the instrument.  If you listen to Track #4 on the same album, he does essentially the same technique around the 1:52 mark, and I'm pretty sure he's still using the chromatic there as well.
That's not to say that he never did rapid switching between chromatic and diatonic b/c there are definitely recorded examples of that in addition to the eyewitness accounts.  Just my $0.02, from the perspective of someone who has studied/copied/incorporated William Clarke's playing for many years.
==========================================================================Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2012 10:48:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: ColdRail <gwoodhouse40@xxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] How Does William Clarke Do It? Chromatic 6 Hole Draw
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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
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