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David's Tip of the Day: Gapping

Posted Fri, 03/30/2012 - 08:00 by David Barrett Admin
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What's the right gap for you?

1 - Low enough that it responds at very low volume.

2 - Not so low that reeds stall when articulation or played with relatively high pressure (when it's time to kick butt!).

3 - Set evenly across the range of the harmonica (keep mind that it's higher for low reeds and lower for high reeds)... nothing's worse than playing a beautifully-soft passage and a reed in that passage doesn't respond similarly to the other reeds... this is a case of the instrument getting in the way of the music. continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Accompaniment Playing - Laying Out

Posted Wed, 03/28/2012 - 07:30 by David Barrett Admin
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We train to play instrumentals and solo on the harmonica, but 80% of the time on the bandstand we're playing accompaniment (if you're not the singer). Here's a tip for you when another soloist starts their solo.

Don't play the first chorus. This gives them sonic space to do their thing. The second chorus play very sparse. The third chorus start playing a little stronger, helping to build underneath the soloist to assist them in their drive to the climax of their solo. Give this a try, it's very affective. continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Practice - Breaking the Rules

Posted Tue, 03/27/2012 - 08:04 by David Barrett Admin
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Today's tip comes from my student and friend Dan... a comment that he made in his lesson that I wrote down to share with you guys. Dan is a soccer expert, teaching private lessons as well as coaching full teams for many decades. We often have lunch together after his lessons to share ideas, especially on skills acquisition. We were talking about how as instructors we can shave off many years of a student's studies by feeding them the right information at the right time, and he said...

"It doesn't matter who your teacher is, you can't break the rule of hours."

David's Tip of the Day: New Harmonica Tuning Software

Posted Mon, 03/26/2012 - 08:04 by David Barrett Admin
David Barrett Admin's picture

Interesting new tuning software at http://www.hohner-cshop.de/cms/index.php/de/de-tuner
If you've try it post in the equipment part of the forum to share your thoughts with everyone.

David's Tip of the Day: Bending & Reed Vibration Analysis, Part 2

Posted Fri, 03/23/2012 - 08:05 by David Barrett Admin
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If you read yesterdays licked study, they mentioned Johnson's study. Here is the study...
http://mis.ucd.ie/Members/RJohnst/oldharp.pdf

Note three incorrect findings. Yes, you can bend in a tongue block... blow bend pitches are not "abrupt" and the Adam's apple has nothing to do with the bending process. Don't blame him for this... this was a very early study and not much was known about bending back then... thus the study.

David's Tip of the Day: Bending & Reed Vibration Analysis

Posted Thu, 03/22/2012 - 08:29 by David Barrett Admin
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Some of you were asking as of late the science of bending. Here's the most recent study on it (that I'm aware of at least). http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/antaki/articles/Bahnson%20JASA%201998.pdf

HOHNER INSTANT WORKSHOP TOOLKIT MZ99831

Posted Tue, 03/20/2012 - 07:57 by David Barrett Admin
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HOHNER INSTANT WORKSHOP TOOLKIT MZ99831
This toolkit for professional players and harmonica service technicians includes the HOHNER Service Set MZ99331 and contains in addition all tools needed to perform advanced level service operations such as reed replacement as well as all other jobs described in the HOHNER INSTANT WORKSHOP videos on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7Dc3ssh_bM)

What's New: Harmonica Masters Workshop Website

Posted Tue, 03/20/2012 - 07:49 by David Barrett Admin
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The Harmonica Masters Workshop website now contains 2012 class information. Hope to see you there!
http://www.harmonica-masters.de/

Classes I will offer are...

Wednesday & Saturday:

High End & Speed Playing
- How the notes are laid out on the harmonica
- Move licks from the low end to the high end
- Work breathing patterns that facilitate more efficient and faster movement
- Speed patterns
- Licks that we'll work on in class to add to your soloing vocabulary.

Required Skill Level: Must be able to play single notes well. Bending is a plus, but not a requirement. continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Hohner FlexRack

Posted Mon, 03/19/2012 - 07:54 by David Barrett Admin
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I'm part of the Hohner advisory panel, which gives me the opportunity to voice my suggestions on new products and how to improve current products. One that Hohner has been working on for a couple of years is this soon-to-be-released FlexRack. This rack has 3 separate adjustment points (position, angle and height), easy exchange of harps without altering rack settings, adjustable spring loaded clamp with rubberized contact surfaces to avoid scratching harp and fits harmonica models up to a width of 16.5cm (6.5"). continue reading...

David's Tip of the Day: Recording for Dynamics, Part 2

Posted Fri, 03/16/2012 - 08:56 by David Barrett Admin
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Let's now listen to what you recorded...

"#1) Record a song you know well"

Okay, cool...

"#2) Right after the first one record the same song with NO dynamics (no volume change... everything at one level)."

You might of been surprised that this sounded no different, or not much different, than #1. If this is the case, you're in the majority. This is a good wake-up call to use more dynamics.

"#3) Then record the same song with a focus on dynamics... make some passages louder and others softer. Really try to swing your dynamics dramatically." continue reading...