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From: JfGindi~ol.com
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 1996 16:04:06 -0400
Subject: Re: Increasing speed on train sound

ell, they all seem hard to me and make me wanna pass out when I speed
> up.

Train music is played cross harp. The tonic is usually the 1234 draw chord.
The emphasis is on the draw and the tendency is to get too much air in the
lungs, not too little. This however is easily remedied in the slow stages of
practice by breathing shallowly (mouth breathing) and by blowing air over the
top of the harp with a giant trainlike HiSSSSS or HA! on the blow.

M ic'l posted the k sound would produced the desired speed and articulation,
but I don't see how. It is neither fast or agressive enough, happens at the
back of the throat instead of the front of the mouth which is where the
really powert is. Do you use the K sound in your own train music, Mic'l, or
is it perhaps something you read? IRespectfully, I just don't see how it's
possible. (Ten million posts will prove me wrong) Far more effective, I
think, is to tongue as in ta ta ta the tip of the tongue on the ridge behind
the upper teeth. Repeat: the tongue does not touch the harp, rather the same
place it touches in making the t- sound.


Do this on a 1234 draw chord ta taaa ta (draw) then blow wa
(remember, half or more the air over the top of the harp.) Then draw again
imediately, so there is no gap or hesitation between the draw and blow, and
blow. When drawing, you may need to pull a little bit of air into your nose
so you get a good clean chord. In terms of timing, consider the basic train
music to be 4/4 time, with three of the beats on the draw and the 4th on the
blow. Once you've got the basic pattern down slowly, you can move up a hole,
another hole, another after that
and the patrern will always work. You can go all over the harp. and
Resolution will occur at the1234 draw. If I get my train going 90 miles an
hour, it sounds as though I'm really working, but if I pull the harp away so
all you hair is the breath, it is clear that it's more of an illusion of
going fast, and the magician is the tongue working the ridge behind the upper
teeth. It's a small, manageable and subtle technique that sounds big, fast
and wild when you do it in the harp. Jon