RE: [Harp-L] RE:OVERBLOWING

[J Compton <jofjltn4@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mark,
 
All of the answers you seek and more can be found at overblow.com.
 
As a relatively new player who has only very recently figured out how to play them myself (albeit not in a musical context and poorly at best), following are my answers to your questions.
> How do I do it?With lots of practice and even more frustration (potentially).  The best explanation I've read yet, or the one that got my first overblow, is to draw bend 4, 5, or 6, then reverse the flow of air to a blow with the same mouth position.  The actual mouth position is very slightly different than this, but this should let you get the feel of it...and "feel" really is the best word to describe it.  It's almost a mindset you have to have to get them...and this is from a very objective, think-don't-feel kind of guy.
 
> Is it used only periodically?
 
Once you learn what notes are available without overblowing, you'll probably start to notice overblows in songs that you didn't realize were there before.  Done poorly (which is how I currently play them), they are very noticeable as they have a distinct tonal quality (and in my case, a good half second delay before I can get them to sound).  Done correctly, while the consensus seems to be that there is still a distinct tonal difference from a "regular" note, the difference can be subtle enough that you may not notice it.  I would say that for 90+% of the players out there, yes, used only periodically (but that statistic is not supported by any real facts).
 
> Are you tongue blocking to do this?
 
I'm sure there are people out there that can do this...and there are probably people out there who can hit both blow 10 bends right on pitch while TB too...but (throwing out another unsupported statistic) I bet 90+% of those who use OB in their songs play them puckered.  From personal experience (again, not terribly relevant given my newbie status), I've never, ever gotten an OB w/ TB.
 
The real breakthrough for me was gapping the reeds much much closer than your standard out-of-the-box harp.  I got my first OB on a Delta Frost (which, by the way, really changed how it played, and not really for the better...it lost that edgy harshness that I really liked about the DF, but that's for another post some other day) and went from having only gotten one OB once almost by accident to being able to fairly consistently get 4,5, and 6, and get a combination OB and blow on 2 and 3 (which could probably be fixed with a tighter gap on the blow reed to make it choke off).  Now if only I could get them more quickly, maybe I could occasionally use one in a riff.
Good luck...and remember, this is a technique to be learned in complete solitude.  Friends don't let friends learn how to overblow around other people.
 
Jonathan "now to figure out the overdraw" Compton



> Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 09:13:43 -0600> From: mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [Harp-L] RE:OVERBLOWING> > I'm interested in the tecnique of overblowing.> > I've seen it mentioned often. > > How do I do it?> > What sound does it give you?> > Is it used only periodically?> > Are you tongue blocking to do this?> > > > Harpo Mark from Rockford> _______________________________________________> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l