Re: [Harp-L] Minor Swing, Michelle Plas (and more on minor keys)



Thanks for noting this. Mlle. Plas shows good tone and command of overblowing, and nice phrasing.

However, she seems to largely ignore the fact that the song is in a minor key. She's playing in second position and using unbent Draw 3, Blow 2, and Blow 5, all of which are all major-key notes in that position, and every time she plays them, they clash with the minor chords and weaken the essential minor feel of the tune. A little more attention to these details and she could get a lot more of the essential feeling out of this tune. 

Again, when you play in a minor key, choosing a position that defaults to a minor scale can help. Also, licks you already know in one position can often be in another position to create a minor key feel. For instance, if you're going to play a C harp in A minor, play familiar first position licks against and A minor chord (maybe throwing in the occasional D minor chord)  and see what happens. Suddenly those familiar licks take on a whole new flavor because you're playing in fourth position (A minor on a C harp). Similarly, try playing second position licks on a C harp, but against an E minor chord (with a dash of A minor here and there).  Suddenly they feel like minor key licks - you're playing in E minor (fifth position).

Going in the opposite direction, if you take third position licks played in D minor on a C harp, and play them over an F major chord, you'll find you've suddenly got some major-key licks in twelfth position.

In some of his recent Youtube videos, Chris Michalek/groovy gypsy/Buddha explores this concept.

Winslow
 
--- On Tue, 8/5/08, captron100@xxxxxxx <captron100@xxxxxxx> wrote:
From: captron100@xxxxxxx <captron100@xxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] Minor Swing Tabs or sheet music?
To: Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tuesday, August 5, 2008, 7:18 AM

Michael Meehan wrote:
  My band wants to try a version of Minor Swing. 


Mike, i can't help u with tab or musical notation but you can listen to a
nice short version by the 
young French woman harp player, Rachelle Pas.  Check out her videos too.  
http://www.myspace.com/rachelleplas
ron

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