[Harp-L] Offbeat topic, maybe!

[Steve Shaw]

> On 17 May 2025, at 22:13, Steve Shaw <moorcot at xxxxx> wrote:
> Hello folks
> 
> I used to post a lot to harp-l but I rarely do these days. The main reason for this by far is that I stopped playing my Irish tunes in public on my beloved blues harps (generally Paddy-Richtered!) over ten years ago because of my hearing loss - I still noodle away at home but, in public with other musicians, I was simply all at sea.
> 
> But my reason for doing this post is that, harmonically-speaking, I'm a man transformed. I've joined a lovely local bunch of singers of folk songs and shanties who used to have a really good accordion player who sadly passed away last year. I can do all that lusty singing-along that they do, but, more crucially for me, I play the harmonica with them, occasional  Cornish tunes that I've had to learn as well as accompanying their songs and doing "starts" and instrumental breaks. I'm fine with the tunes, but the song accompaniment, I've discovered, is an art unto itself.  A new thing for me and it's taking a lot of work!
> 
> But the key thing is that my beloved blues harps are now almost completely unused. Instead, to try to match, at least somewhat,  that accordion sound, I'm now playing tremolo harmonicas almost all the time. This is a new thing for me and the transition has been a real challenge - my muscle memory has been in a muddle but I'm definitely getting there. In the past I've struggled to find tremolos that don't rapidly go south, but I've taken the advice of that greatest of all Irish tremolo players, Noel Battle, and turned exclusively to Tombo Band 3121 harps. They are loud, resilient and can be trusted to stay in the right tremolo tuning - and, unlike blues harps, all their octaves are complete. I hasten to add that I have no connection with the company and that I pay full whack for all my harps!
> 
> That's my journey, now at the age of 74, a new lease of life and I'm absolutely loving it. Six gigs to date and more in the offing. Not mainstream harp-l stuff maybe. Cheers to all harmonicas, no matter which kind! And thanks for listening!
> 
> Steve Shaw

I just thought I'd post a brief update about my "journey" (not an expression I'm overly keen on, but hey ho!).  I'm far more at ease these days with the muscle memory adjustment I've had to make in the transition from mainly blues harps (paddied!) to mainly tremolos, and, within reason, I can switch from one to the other without too much bother. I'm doing a lot of accompaniment/harmonising rather than pure melody playing these days and, so far, the  chaps haven't sacked me for so doing! We have a really good fiddle player who's pretty inventive in those regards, and he and I punctuate our gigs, which are mostly about lusty singing, with a few polkas, reels and hornpipes and I think we make a pretty decent noise together.  I think the "singing" contingent of our band appreciate the bit of "colour" that our instruments add and, on the whole, they just let us get on with it, which is nice. 

I hasten to add that we're not doing sophisticated, top-drawer stuff and we are far more concerned with just trying to do it as right as a bunch of pensioners can manage and, well, just having fun.

Also, after years of extreme reluctance regarding chromatic harmonicas, I've had to bite the bullet because a fair few of our songs demand accidentals. I've never done overblows and my bends are too untidy for words. For Irish tunes I've seldom had to resort to chroms, but times have changed. I hated all that sticking-valves stuff but I've discovered the East Top valveless chroms. They are inexpensive and they play in tune and have nice quiet slides - and no valves to stick. They are a bit quiet and are far from being the Big Beasts of the chrom world, but they are a fuss-free ideal for someone who needs a chrom just occasionally. No connection with the company, by the way. I just speak as I find... So now I possess an old Super Chromonica in D and East Top chroms in C and G. 

My C chrom is about to come into its own next week as I've been asked to dig deep for my inner Harry Pitch in order to play the Last Of The Summer Wine theme for the leaving  music at the funeral of a dear friend. That will be a pleasure!

Cheers, and thanks for listening!

Steve