Re: [Harp-L] Ashokan Farewell

[Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak@xxxxxxxxx>]

Forgot to mention: The harps I am hitting the 6OB on have been customized
by myself, or by people who are much better than I am at setting up a
harmonica for overblows. One of the harps is a Golden Melody in D
customized by Brad Harrison in pre-Harrison Harmonica days.

It really helps performance to have a properly set up harmonica when doing
overblows--especially sustained ones.

Eric

On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 5:55 AM, Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Just tried the tune out on a Chrom. It sounded quite nice--and being a
> slow tune, my limited chromatic skills weren't overtaxed.
> It was nice to use some octaves for embellishment, too.
>
> I still think the overblow-on-diatonic solution works (just tried it on a
> low E diatonic--don't have a low D). It's not an easy technique; but it
> comes with practice, and  this is a good tune to work on sustaining an
> overblow with good tone.
>
> I think I may end up preferring the chrome for this tune. I should get
> over my chrome shyness and reach for the button more often.
>
> Eric
>
> On Tue, May 8, 2012 at 4:56 AM, Steve Shaw <moorcot@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> .
>>
>> >On the other hand, there can be beauty in spareness too. I think of the
>> Ashoken Farewell less as a waltz than as an air, and a lot of the old airs
>> pre-date harmonised accompaniment. I like the sound of the >diatonic
>>  (Seydel Melody Maker) for (Southern) American fiddle tunes although it
>> would be really great to have a "diatonic" with BOTH the flatted and
>> sharped sevenths available without having to bend.
>> Emily, a lot of slow airs started as songs that were sung unaccompanied,
>> as, for example, in the sean-nós tradition in Ireland. The melody would be
>> highly-ornamented, rhythmically very flexible from verse to verse and
>> replete with pauses and drawn-out phrasing. You might just get away with
>> that in Ashokan first time through, but otherwise there isn't an awful lot
>> to play with unless you add plenty of harmony. You'd just sound as if you
>> were pulling the tune about. There is a version somewhere with words put to
>> it, but it made me clench a certain portion of my anatomy when I heard it!!
>> Some of those piping tunes with flattened 7ths are best played in second
>> position. The ones with both both Cs and C sharps have me reaching for my D
>> chrom. A valved diatonic would do the trick as well as long as your bends
>> are in good order.  I'm a self-confessed non-overblower and I suspect I'm
>> not alone!
>>
>>
>>
>
>