[Harp-L] Harmonica as a Voice

["John Balding" <John.Balding@xxxxxxxxx>]

Tim Moyer wrote:
"I had an epiphany one day when playing privately in a place that had a
lot of room resonance ("presence", you might call it).  As I got more
and more absorbed in my playing, focusing on the intonation of each
note, I started imagining that I was singing the notes, except that
instead of my vocal chords producing the initial tones, it was the
harmonica reeds.  I still used the vocal tract, mouth cavity, tongue,
etc., to shape each tone and control the pitch."

During a break at one of his gigs here in Tallahassee many years back,
Jerry Portnoy told me that "When you can hear a line of music in your
head, then play those notes without thinking of where they are on the
harp, that's when you know that you're on the right track. When you can
instinctually play what is in your head as easily as you could sing it,
the harp has become your second voice." At that, he took one last drag
on his cig, crushed it out, and went back to the stage. A man of few,
but profound words.

John Balding

-----Original Message-----
From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Tim Moyer
Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2006 7:01 PM
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Rosco/Alec on OB's/half-bends

Chris Michalek wrote:
> The trick is to hear the tone in your head and force your body to 
> produce it.  Do you whistle?  Try it but make sure you're doing it in 
> tune, once you get that under control then I think the intonation 
> issues with go away.

I have a similar approach to Chris.  I don't want to pick nits with
Chris' semantics, but I don't really think he meant "force" it.  I
prefer to think of it as enabling your body to produce it.  It should be
a positive experience ;-)

I had an epiphany one day when playing privately in a place that had a
lot of room resonance ("presence", you might call it).  As I got more
and more absorbed in my playing, focusing on the intonation of each
note, I started imagining that I was singing the notes, except that
instead of my vocal chords producing the initial tones, it was the
harmonica reeds.  I still used the vocal tract, mouth cavity, tongue,
etc., to shape each tone and control the pitch.  

At the next gig I played I was approached by a woman who told me she was
thinking of taking up the harmonica, because it was the closest thing
she'd seen to singing.  She had years of formal voice training and was
trying to decide on an instrument to learn.  I considered this a
validation of my vision, although, obviously, this was a deeply personal
experience.  

-tim






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