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From: Winslow Yerxa <76450.32~ompuServe.COM>
Date: 25 Sep 96 23:20:34 EDT
Subject: Harmonica Masterclass

TO: internet:harp~arply.com

Ray Beltran, writing about the San Jose Harmonica Masterclass, writes:

None of the players who spoke used overblows, with the exception of
Lee Oskar, and a few of them just plain said they didn't know how to do
it, and weren't embarrassed to admit it. They'd rather just reach for
their chromatic.

Actually, Lee does not use overblows. On the other hand, I do (just ask
Hugh), but my seminar was about chromatic, so the subject did not come
up.

But, unlike other instruments, not being able to graphically show the
technique, aside from a few drawings taken from David's books, was
painfully obvious. All weekend long, it was "Well, you just gotta pull
from down here and it sounds like this..."

You must have missed my blues chromatic seminar, Ray (sorry to toot my
own horn, but nobody else seems to be doing it). I used a giant tuning
chart, and pointed to exactly what I was doing as I demonstrated some of
the techniques. Next year, maybe computer animation and a projector.

By the way, this was an excellent event, if not as varied as SPAH (Ray
correctly observes that the emphasis was almost entirely on blues). It's
doubled in attendance from the first year to the second, and went off
without a hitch (except for the police cordoning off several streets due
to an "alternative" music festival and delaying our access to the
evening club by several hours.)

Early in my seminar, David Barrett walked up with a wireless lapel mic
and offered it - gladly accepted, as I was pacing about the stage
between tape deck, keyboard, harp kit, and tuning chart, and the only
onstage mic was one of those retro chrome-grilled fist-sized boxes on a
fixed stand mounting that look like something out of Evita. What a joy
to forget about holding a mic, not tripping on the cord, putting it on
the stand, etc. I just may invest in one of these babies.

I look forward to next year's Masterclass. The way Dave and crew are
going with this, it's headed to being one of the major world harmonica
festivals.

Winslow Yerxa
Harmonica Information Press
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