[Harp-L] Overblows

[Joseph Leone]

> On Nov 16, 2018, at 8:14 AM, Jerome P. <jersimuse at xxxxx> wrote:
> 
> Hey Joe, you're trying to ruin my legendary humility :D

Ha ha, Patrice Rayon and Rober’ Koch tuned me into you long ago. You’re not just sitting there in perfume city mixing up essences of parfum. You’re working your tail off. To the benefit of all. 
> 
> I love your definition of what your paying a musician for !

I had given it a lot of thought. A person struggles for what? 16 years? And gets what? a few hundred a gig?. Not a very good return on the time invested. BUT at the beginning a player may have
that famous ‘Look of hunger’ that Cassius had. And this will come out in their presentation. Hopefully they don’t get so famous that they start ‘mailing IN’ their craft and loose that look. As another
member so aptly put it. You play to express yourself. That’s the way it should be with any art.   
> 
> In fact, I know many players who have done this work on timbre homonigeneity & pitch precision.
> I organize yearly training sessions in France, together with Sebastien Charlier, and the guys we teach to have already done this work both on bends & overblows.
> Most of them are amateurs, they still have to work of course, but some have extremely good results concerning those notes.
> And at a certain point, bent notes become much more complex to be controlled than overblows (both on timbre & pitch).
> 
> I'll reveal the secret for you.
> A lot of harmonica players play the overblows in the same position as the high bent blow notes, and they also force a bit with the stomach and/or the throat to get them.
> How do I know ? They have this specific timbre on the overblows, very different than the one they have on draw bends.
> The secret is to do the contrary : play the overblow in the same position as the opposite draw bend & do not put any force.
> Now the timbre is closer to the one of the draw bend, but the pitch is probably too low.
> Once you have done this, take a tuner and verify the pitch of both notes : bend & overblow.
> You have to find a tongue position which is exactly the same for both notes (for example 4' and 4°) with perfect pitch for both, of course.
> If you succeed, both pitch are perfect & the timbres are homogeneous.
>  
> I'll reveal another secret, just for you : I consider my harmonica composed of natural & overnotes. That's all.
> I exagerate a bit, I have two bent notes on my harp : 3' & 10'.
> For all the other ones, I play either natural notes, or overnotes.
> Bends don't exist, my friend ! and I can prove it ! :D
> 
> Thank you very much for your kind words !

Don’t mention it. You have the look.  :)
Jo-Zeppi
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Jerome
> www.jeromepeyrelevade.com <http://www.jeromepeyrelevade.com/>  
> 
> Le ven. 16 nov. 2018 à 05:22, Joseph Leone <3N037 at xxxxx <mailto:3N037 at xxxxx>> a écrit :
> I always try to be charitable..IF I can. Or maybe diplomatic. Yes there may be occasions when a person uses overblows to show off.
> BUT I kinda see it this way. More than likely a person is using the overblows to show that they have paid their dues and in an ever 
> increasing competitive world, these players are making a case that they have done the work and done the mileage to prospective gig 
> providers. And therefore getting gigs through a display of (possibly) higher qualifications. 
> 
> See I have always believed that you are not paying a musician for WHAT they can do. You are paying them for EFFORT spent in practice 
> time. Which in most cases amounts to years. And not just a couple hours of gig.
> 
> In the 7 decades that I have listened to harmonica players, and keeping in mind that if the lifetime of harmonica was only one year, overblows
> didn’t (really) appear till Dec. 11th. I hear overblows and most of the time the timbre is like my left arm. It isn’t right and it isn’t fair. So to speak. 
> But I certainly admire those who can pull it off. AND do it consistently. If I were ever to seek a player as an expert on overblows, there are a few
> right here on this list. But most fall short and should refrain from doing them in public until such time as they sound like a Jerome or ????
> 
> The greatest thing you will ever learn is just to love..and be loved in return. Play on. :)
> 
> Love….smo-joe