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From: Michael Will
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 18:53:37 -0700
Subject: Re: Tuning system for the chromaticaly played 'diatonic' harmonica?

dijk~orldaccess.nl wrote:

> After a while,
> bending and overblowing/drawing became a standard technique. So, different
> tuning systems became less interesting. Am I right?

Can't speak for everyone. Seems reasonable to me too.. but Lee Oskar
seems to be doing well selling his "special" tunings: Melody Maker,
Natural Minor, and Harmonic Minor. I think it relates somewhat to skill
level. Lots of players prefer 2nd position, so special tunings address
that need. Overblowing/overdrawing is difficult, and the tone suffers
significantly in the hands of most, IMO.

>
> So, musicians discovered techniques to be able to play more pitches than
> originaly intended by the manufacturer. A diatonic harmonica player uses the
> following techniques to be able to play a chromatic scale on the diatonic
> harmonica; draw, blow, draw bend, blow bend, over draw, over blow.

And valved bends, which allow blow bends on reeds 1-6 and draw bends on
reeds 7-10.

> Because of the interference of the blow and draw reed during the act of bending
> a note (or overblowing/drawing which is physicaly the same), the tuning system
> is a very important bases concerning the bending possibilities (and ofcourse
> the chromatic possibilities). Am I right?

Yes, I would certainly agree. In Winslow Yerxa's publication HIP
(volume 2 if I remember) he has an excellent article on the Hohner 365
and the unusual tuning on the high end. He discusses in detail the
extra blow bend possibilities of that tuning.

I have a question about bending.

A normal bend has contribution from both reeds, right? When I play a
bend without the covers I can feel the top (inner) reed passing through
it's slot. But, I can mute that top reed and still bend just using the
outer reed.

So, if both reeds are crossing their slots, and have different lengths,
and produce the same pitch along a continuous pitch change, something
must be coupling them together so that they vibrate through their slots
at the same rate, right?

What is that something?

Extremely curious,
Mic'l