[Harp-L] Melodies with low bends (was Re: Video about "clean"overblows)

[Laurent Vigouroux]

Hello Kieron



Big thanks for the feedback! By the way, I'm a bit surprised the subject has not raised any other comment. I really think diatonic playing has been changing a lot recently and I would have liked to have some feedback from experiences players on the list.



>>I'm jealous of your Harp. Is that a fully customised harp? It has a nice warm sound.

This is a full wood custom harp made by Raymond Brodur, with Golden Melody reedplates setup by Sébastien Charlier. This is an incredible instrument in terms of airtightness and sound. 

I'll post a review of it soon on planetharmonica.com



>>The OB on 6 I mentioned came about when I was trying to play the standard opening to Autumn Leaves

>>https://soundcloud.com/grey-owl-harp/autumn-leaves-segment-in-3rd-on-c-harp

This does sound really good! But this obliges you to have a vibrato on the note, doesn't it? In that context, that's good but what if you want a note without vibrato?

I've made my own attempt on it:

https://soundcloud.com/laurent-vigouroux/autumn-leaves-in-dm-beginning

What do you think of it?



>> I think my best attempt at a sweet melody incorporating OB's and bends was on 'Oblivion' which is a lovely tune.

I haven't found it on your sounclound. I would be very interested in hearing that.



By the way, you play very well on all your soundcloud tunes. This would deserve a better recording in my opinion. You use the internal mic of your PC, don't you? It would be so much cleaner with an USB mike.



A bientôt!

Laurent



Le 29/07/2018 14:57, Laurent a écrit:

Here is an example of what I think sounds good:

https://soundcloud.com/laurent-vigouroux/someday-is-a-lonely-day-1

This is the beginning of a tune by Jérôme Peyrelevade. As you'll notice, there are several bent notes in the low octave in the melody ( 3", 3"', 2" and 2', the most difficult sounding bends).

You can find the part here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/l30syhlerlo6gnc/SomedayIsALonelyday.jpg?dl=0

(Note that the harmonica tab is for a lydian tuned harp, which has a F# in 5 draw. You will also see a 1 blow bent (B) that is playable thanks to a valve on the first hole in the harmonica used by Jérôme.)

Really, this phrase sounds good to my ears, and it is pretty melodic!

I've tried to play it myself:

https://soundcloud.com/laurent-vigouroux/the-first-phrase-of-someday-is

It can still be improved of course, but this seems decent to me, for  

an amateur player.