[Harp-L] Playing chromatically on a diatonic (was Will Scarlett's place in the history of overblows)

[Sébastien Frémal]

Hello Laurent,

Yes, even if it's played in tune, you easily hear the overblows that are
played in this sound excerpt. But that's ok, that and bent notes add
colours to the sound of the harmonica. Depending on which colours you want
to give to the song you play, you can chose the position that suits the
best :) To my knowledge, harmonica is the only instrument allowing that
kind of stuff. That makes it a really interesting and fun instrument :)

Seb



Le mar. 15 févr. 2022 à 13:09, Laurent Vigouroux <
laurent.vigouroux at xxxxx> a écrit :

> Hi all
>
> In my opinion, it is now proven overblows can sound well and can’t be
> spotted in a phrase.
> But it seems not everybody agrees on that (cf RD comment below).
>
> As some people may hear tone differences better than me, I’d like to
> submit a sound excerpt to the community:
>
> https://www.planetharmonica.com/NextGen/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Audio038.mp3
>
> (it’s not played by me).
>
> Would you spot the overblows in this phrase, just by ear? Please don’t use
> an harp to find out. Just your ears.
> I would be very interested in your feedback.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Laurent
>
>
> RD wrote
> >>
> >>> I just think it sounds bad. Even from the very best practitioners
> (Filip
> >>> Jers, to name one) it sounds out of sorts with the rest of the
> >> instrument.
> …
> >>> Like I said some time back, it reminds me of 'Esperanto', artificially
> >>> created to make a 'universal' language.
> >>> The only place it seems to have survived is with Esperanto enthusiasts.
> >>> I think OB/OD technique will remain popular with devoted diatonic harp
> >>> players, but that's it.
> >>> I've been putting off saying this for years, but I'm getting old and
> have
> >>> ceased to care!
> >>> RD
>
>