Am I going crazy and hearing things or can you blow harmonics? I think I remember reading something about Carlos del Junco hitting harmonics but I'm not certain. I think I got at least one or maybe two on the 4 blow. sounds like a minor third above and then maybe below the note. Are there others? Can anyone think of what harmonica harmonics would be practical for other than gimmicky showboating?
Well if it's gimmicky showboating you want, I've been experimenting with feedback (howlround). You should hear the effect of hand cupping, shaking, etc. You can even start off a note and it plays itself. But anything you can consistently reproduce has got to be good.
Harmonics are present all the time, it's just a case of emphasising them. That's really what 'tone' is about. Make an "OOOOooooh" sound and focus on keeping the pitch steady from your throat. Now play around with the shape of your tongue, lips and vocal cavity - you will hear different qualities. That's the simple theory behind overtone singing. Same applies to how you shape the tone from the harp. How you could completely isolate a harmonic baffles me though. Sounds to me like you might be confusing harmonic and overblow (which is a minor third above the blow note)
MrVerylongusername: no no no its not isolated, what you described with the ooh-ahh is exactly how I stumbled upon them. now I've been working on bringing them out and I can get 4 different pitches above the note that I'm playing. I think what I was hearing as a minor third was a minor 7th which would match up with what GermanHarpist said if it was A# instead of A...right? I could still be hearing it wrong but when I go through the harmonics its sounds like an arpeggiated Mm7th chord.
German Harpist: I would but my webcam isn't working. I hope I can get it fixed in time for HPC3!
OK sorry, if I'd read the post more carefully I'd have seen that you talked about above and below the fundamental. :blush:
Sounds intriguing. In overtone singing, the trick is to suppress the fundamental and amplify a specific harmonic - I wonder if Del Junco can do something similar? He's a player I have to confess to not having listened to much. Can anyone recommend a track where he's doing this?
He starts around 0:15. I haven't listend to him much either, but am damn sure gonna start. Also, I would not really classify it as gimmicky showboating in his case haha.
I can't believe the crowd cut him off like that at around 1:50!
I couldn't be bothered reading every post because well, i'm lazy, but maybe the harmonics are the squealy noise when you try to hit an overblown note and it's not gapped properly?. my apologies if it's clearly not that noise though.
P.s. im assuming harmonics are like guitar harmonics - correct me if i'm wrong.
