Benwalker wrote: <<I heard a CD of Mat Walklate. He plays ITM on Harmonica and flutes. Great Stuff! >>
Mat is a fellow member of the National Harmonica League, but I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t made contact with him as yet nor heard him playing. I must put that right. He operates in your area (you probably already knew that!) and organises various events which I think he calls shindigs! Don’t know whether they’re exclusively harmonica though. I think if you google his name you’ll get his website.
meemtp wrote:
<<Great playing Steve! I never knew the harmonica could work so well for ITM, and diatonic no less!
Corin>>
You are very kind - cheers! I owe a great deal to Gary for putting up that attractive page and doing such a good job on the clips. I’m glad you picked up on the suitability angle. Apart from trying to get the harmonica taken more seriously in general , I’ve spent a lot of time recently trying to persuade the harmonica community (pretentious? - moi??) that the 10-hole harp is almost ideally-suited to ITM (with one or two caveats of course…). I can provide lots more information offlist about this to anyone interested.
Kudos to you Steve! i’m thoroughly enjoying the cd – Steve’s playing has great lift and tone, the tune selection is well done, and i’ve been listening to it every day since i got it. Sits quite nicely on the cd player between the Murphys, Tommy Basker, BP, etc.
It even got me to resuscitate my old hohners, herings and suzukis and get some tunes out of them. it was interesting because i’d forgotten which ones i’d filed and which reeds i’d filed on them…
Cheers Rob. I need all the encouragement I can get!!
If anyone’s interested I’ve just had an article about playing ITM on harmonica put up on the online “magazine” Planet Harmonica. I’d welcome any comments, critical or otherwise…! It’s at http://www.planetharmonica.com/contents.htm
ITM sounds nice on the harmonica. I have a copy of a CD called “A Dubliner and His Harmonica”, by Don Kavanagh. Very different sound than other ITM CDs in my collection; I like it alot. Here’s a link for more info: http://www.sfsite.com/charlesdelint/don_k.htm.
I’ve seen Brendan Power in person and his CD “New Irish Harmonica” is in my CD player right now. I play the blues harp (I’ve taken lessons from Dave Barrett for about 5 years) I’d sure like to know more about ITM on the diatonic Steve. Any resources or lesson material. By the way I think you playing is great.
There’s a quarterly publication called The Harmonica Educator for which I’ve been writing articles on the playing of ITM on the harmonica since the Winter 2003 edition. I’ve assumed that the reader can already play the instrument but just wants to explore a different genre of music. Some tunes are included. The content is roughly what’s on my website but in much more detail. http://members.aol.com/heducator2/index.html (he needs to update the H.E. site!)
I can’t really speak for any of the tuition book/CD sets one way or the other as I’ve never used any of them. I regret in hindsight the fact that I never sought help because various limitations are now firmly entrenched in my playing, and I find it hard at my tender age to change things once my brain’s wired a certain way.
I can’t think of any other resources off the top of my head but if I remember any others I’ll post them.
no worries… i recall reading an interview with a well-known guitarist, who, when asked about his style, replied “i don’t know if i’d call it a style so much as a series of bad habits strung together.”
I’ve got to put a plug in for James Conway’s Mouthbox CD - IrTrad on harmonica. It was released two years ago and there was a good thread on it here for a bit (for some reason my computer doesn’t want to copy the url properly). Here’s a note from Carol’s review about where to find the track listings, etc.:
Thank you for bringing The Irish harmonica discography to my attention, Peter. I shall humbly submit myself thereto…
I’ve been communicating and swapping CDs with James Conway for the past year. Apart from being a superb harmonica - and whistle - player, he’s a very nice guy.
Recently I’ve been communicating with a chap in Brittany called Jean Sabot who plays traditional Irish, Scottish, French-Canadian and Breton music on harmonica. I’ve been listening to his album “Harmoníca, víolon” and I can tell you that it’s just about one of the most enjoyable albums in our genre I’ve ever listened to. Not only is he an exceptional player but he also plays all the traditional tunes with superb good taste and respect for the traditions. If you were buy this album and were in any way disappointed I’d willingly eat my Tilley hat (see avatar). I can do no more than tell you! His website is at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jsabot/accueilan.htm
I got my first harmonica for Christmas today, and a copy of Steve’s CD. It’s my new favourite!
Steve, perhaps I’ll make it up to Cornwall sometime and we can get together for some tunes. I’ll try not to be a complete beginner so as to avoid testing your patience.
Avanutria writes: “I got my first harmonica for Christmas today, and a copy of Steve’s CD. It’s my new favourite!
Steve, perhaps I’ll make it up to Cornwall sometime and we can get together for some tunes. I’ll try not to be a complete beginner so as to avoid testing your patience.”
I’d like that. What with Martin and Gary also hinting at get-togethers I can feel some sort of southern-England session coming on. We need a born leader to co-ordinate us!
Go gently on that first harmonica, sit upright and breathe from the diaphagm, and it’ll last you longer than my first two dozen did!
As someone who has struggled a little with making ITM on my diatonic harmonic work, I want to thank you very much for the article at planet harmonica. Unfortunately, I cannot get a low d reed plate for my favorite harmonica, but I will certainly look for another harp. I usually end up grabbing the chromatic and for me, it can be very laborious to play compared to the diatonic.
I’m on a dial-up connection, so I’m still waiting to hear your clips, but in the mean time. . . Steve, thank you for new inspiration.
I’ve got nothing against chromatics but I get along much better with the little 10-hole harps. To me, in ITM, it’s like the difference between driving a sports car and a double-decker bus. Having said that, there are some damn fine bus drivers about!!
I think the best low D harp is the Hohner Special 20. Make sure it’s a ~LOW~ D you ask for. You’d be very lucky to find replacement plates for them though, but the harps are only around $20 in the US (about half the price they are in the UK). Lee Oskars are the best harps for quality control and longevity but they don’t come in low D unfortunately. I’ve just obtained a Hohner XB40 in low D (had to get it from the US), but they cost more than twice as much and I’m not at all sure about them as yet…
I listened to the clips last night. Excellent work! I’ll have to catch my husband, a fellow harper, and have him give a listen.
I’ve had, or still have in a box somewhere, some Lee Oskars. I was never really comfortable with the feel of them against my lips.
As far as a diatonic, I generally play a Hohner 580. I have 3 that I just switch the plates around in.
I have a special 20 that I blew the reeds out of years ago. (From a previous post, I see you’ve done the same several times ) It was a regular old C, though. I am now going to rush off to order one in a low D, since I got distracted last night.
The Hohner 580 is the Meisterklasse isn’t it? I’ve never had one of those. Is it worth the extra money compared with Special 20s/Lee Oskars?
Lee Oskars take a lot of getting used to if you’ve played other harps a lot. I found it hard to control them in the mouth for months, but it comes with time and practice. They are tuned to 12-tone Equal Temperament, unlike most Hohner diatonics, the exception being the Golden Melody. To my knowledge all the other Hohner diatonics are tuned to an intermediate tuning between 12tET and Just intonation. This is why they tend to sound a bit mellower when chords are played. All the Suzuki harps I know about are tuned like Lee Oskars. I seem to be in the minority in preferring equal-tuned harps, but this is because I play mostly single notes and hardly ever go in for chord or interval playing. All my Hohners are fine-tuned to 12tET.
For anyone who’s interested in trying Irish on chromatic harp, but can’t afford a custom instrument, I just found a fairly inexpensive source. F&R Farrell Co. (www.frfarrell.com) carries the Hering 5148 in G/F# tuning (what Brendan Power’s site refers to as the “Eddie Clark” system) for about $55 plus shipping. I’ve just ordered one myself to give it a try.
, I’ve spent a lot of time recently trying to persuade the harmonica community (pretentious? - moi??) that the 10-hole harp is almost ideally-suited to ITM (with one or two caveats of course…). I can provide lots more information offlist about this to anyone interested.
) It was a regular old C, though. I am now going to rush off to order one in a low D, since I got distracted last night.