RE: [Harp-L] Finding the Position - "Summertime"

["Mike Snowden" <mike.snowden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mmm ..  "When Johnny..." was the first song I just played by ear on the
natural-minor (3B start - or 7B if your ears can stand it (I have a high
Fnm)), and your keying is where I'm playing on the natural minor harp.   But
does it fit too well?


Part of this exercise has been to try and evaluate whether I am
"over-fitting" things - playing a straight them at the cost of expressive
bends, etc.  I've had at least 5 different ways of playing so far on the
Richter, but a couple include overblows that I can't do yet.  The feel of
each one is different, depending on what you want legato, pitching, etc.
It's an excellent illustration of position.  And I'm really enjoying the
samples I have received...!

I'm also really thinking for the first time about how the parallel minor
scale actually works vs a blues scale; for some reason my "guitar band"
background got me thinking in terms of majors scales, not minor, despite my
classical stuff featuring lots of minor.  The blues scale is fundamentally a
minor pentatonic with a blue note added, so a minor ought to be almost more
compatible.  The versatility of playing in so many different positions is
making me think hard about keys and positions, and where each position
"drops" its bends.

	Thanks
Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Hildebrand [mailto:airmojoken@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: 22 October 2006 16:04
To: mike.snowden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: harp-l
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Finding the Position - "Summertime"

Mike,

I like playing 'Summertime' on a Lee Oskar Natural
Minor harp, usually a lower keyed one like an Em.

I start out on 6 blow (6B 5B 6B would sound out
SUM-ER-TIME)... You can pretty much figure it out by
ear from there... The part 'So hush little baby...
don't you cry' is played: 2D 3D 2D 3D 4B 5B 6B 5D 5B
5B 4B.

No bends, OB's, or OD'd !

I've always figured this was 1st postion on a LO NM
harp (so on an Em labeled harp, it would be Am).

Similarly, you can go right into the song "When Johnny
Comes Marching Home" (start on 3B)... I will sometimes
end "Summertime" with an ending lick from "When Johnny
Comes Marching Home".

Try it !

Ken H

--- Mike Snowden <mike.snowden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I've been dabbling more with a natural minor harp,
> and I got the old classic
> "Summertime" into my head  I tried this a while back
> on a standard Richter,
> and I couldn't get it to work then, but this time I
> got the idea to try a
> "Natural Minor".  So I picked up and played by
> ear....  Starting on 7 blow
> seems to work really quite well.  If I could
> bend/overblow better, then
> starting on 4-draw potentially feels bluesier, but
> some of the steps at the
> end of the verse are much harder.  I have the sheet
> music hidden away on the
> shelf, so it's there if I want to see what I've
> forgotten....
>
>
> So the question goes, what do other people use? And
> if a Standard Richter,
> what starting position works for you?
>
>                 Mike
>
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