[Harp-L] Breaking In / Adjusting to a new harp

[Richard Sleigh <rrsleigh@xxxxxxxxx>]

The way I experience new harmonicas is a combination of discovering what
this new harp can do. tweaking it, and then getting used to the feel of the
new harp.

Every harp is different and has some sort of "personality". I think what
happens is that I know what I want to play, and end up making all sorts of
tiny adjustments in how I play to get the sound and response out of a harp.
These adjustments in my playing happen subconsciously. I'm just focusing on
the sound I want, and my body does God knows what to move toward getting
that sound out of the harp.

It's like walking - I am making all sorts of really complicated adjustments
that I am not aware of cause I am focused on where I am going.

I think a lot of what we call "breaking in a harp" is really this
subconscious adjustments to the unique combination of reed responses in the
new harp. Your mind / body go into some kind of discovery mode for the harp
and come up with all sorts of subtle adjustments "push a little harder on
draw 3 as it goes from whole step bend to step and  half just to get it
past that minor sticking point" , play draw 4 a bit lighter to even out
volume",  - this sort of thing, happening at warp speed for thousands of
variables per second.

It would be exhausting to try to write down everything that the brain is
processing in even a couple of seconds of playing a harp.

But that is my guess about what is actually happening as a big part of the
"breaking in" process - the brain training itself to get used to the
pattern of reed response in a new harp. Once it gets the formula for this
new harp dialed in, the harp seems to be playing better.

Of course, if you tweak your own harps, there is that level of "breaking
in" as well - adjusting a harp evens out the response and removes a lot of
the stress on your brain / body to compensate for the uneven response.

I believe that we tend to play all the reeds in a harp at the general level
that gets the most stubborn reeds to respond. That is why people tend to
play hard. It takes real finesse to play most of a harp softly and then hit
the one or two stubborn reeds just hard enough to make them sound like the
other reeds.

It is easier to just hit them all hard...

If you can do basic reed adjustment, then the process of breaking in a harp
includes physically adjusting the reeds and testing till you get the reeds
to respond in a more balanced and consistent way. Then you give your
subconscious mind a lot less to deal with as it comes up with its way to
work with this particular combination of reeds....

So you are "breaking in" your own mind as well as the harp...

Richard Sleigh
http://www.rsleigh.com
http://www.hotrodharmonicas.com