Re: [Harp-L] Re: Watermelon Man

["jazmaan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <dmf273@xxxxxxxxx>]

Well I was thinking that "Watermelon Man" was 4th position.  Key of F on my Ab harp.  (Or key of A
on a C harp.)  But you're right, the whole notion of positions gets dicey on altered harps.   
Anyway,  try "Watermelon Man" on a Lee Oskar Melody Maker in the same key as your 3 blow - it
doesn't matter what you name it.

--- Dave Murray <dlmurray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: "jazmaan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <dmf273@xxxxxxxxx>
> > Ok, I see where I got confused.   I haven't been following the Lee Oskar 
> > convention of naming the
> > key of the Melody Maker according to the cross harp position.
> >
> > By that convention my "Ab XB-Melody" would be called an Eb XB-Melody! 
> > But because my XB-Melody
> > began its life as an Ab XB-40,  I always called it an Ab XB-Melody.  And I 
> > will continue to do so.
> >
> > But now that I understand what's going on here, let me rephrase my 
> > original question -
> >
> > What position is the key of A on a "G" Lee Oskar Melody Maker?
> 
> The G (2nd position) Lee Oskar Melody Maker is an altered C harp. A is 
> Dorian minor in this case but what we think of as positions kind of breaks 
> down. Lee Oskar labels it as 1st position but since we normally think of 1st 
> position as 1 or 4 blow it is confusing since it is shifted over to the 3 
> blow. And due to the "Paddy" alteration the 3 blow doesn't match the 2 draw 
> any more (it's what we normally double bend the 3 draw to get). To me the 
> whole positions thing is turned a bit on it's head with altered harps.
> 
> Looks like once again, something makes sense to me but when I try to explain 
> it I just confuse people. :0)
> 
> Peace and music,
> Dave
> 
>