Re: [Harp-L] Overblowing

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 Larry Marks wrote:
<1. I play primarily valved. Mr. Levy reminds me why I do. I don't find 
<it any more difficult to play a valve-enabled bend than any other note. 
<That includes the 2B bend (equivalent to 1OB).
<
<2. It may be easy for you to retune, but I can slap 7 valves on  a stock 
<diatonic in well under 5 minutes.

In my recent review of PT Gazell's "2 Days Out" (at http://www.hunterharp.com/record-review-pt-gazell-2-days-out/), I wrote:
***
The record also raises some very interesting issues where playing the diatonic harp chromatically is concerned. To be specific, Gazellâs playing here is a lot smoother in terms of pitch and timbre than most of the stuff I hear done with bending and overblowing. The reason can only be that Gazellâs preferred technique for playing chromatically, which involves the use of valves on certain reed slots in the low to mid register, is inherently more stable than bends and overblows on unvalved diatonics. Itâs rare on this record that I hear an altered pitch that makes me wince. The music just flows and does what itâs supposed to do: keep your toe tapping and your face smiling. The easy confidence of the playing makes it just as easy to forget that youâre listening to a technique with some pretty profound implications for the diatonic harp. This is another one of the ways in which this record is quietly radical. Certainly no one has taken this approach farther than Gazell, and the results are very musical.
***

So I agree that the valved approach is very viable for chromatic playing on the diatonic (even if it's not my preferred approach).

Regarding the relative ease of valving a diatonic: I don't retune my own harps lately, because I can get all the relatively simple variations on standard Richter that I use (Natural Minor, Dorian Minor, Melody Maker, Paddy Richter, Country Tuning, and every once in a while Harmonic Minor) out of the box from one or another of the various manufacturers.  It takes less time to order a harp online than it does to slap valves on it. :)

Regards, Richard Hunter

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