Re: [Harp-L] Learning, Grammar and Theory

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

While transpositions of music for Eb and Bb instrumetns exist, they're not nearly as easy to find as music written for C instruments. And creating transpositions for other keys of instrument is a lot of work.

The harmonica parts in the musical theatre I've done (Big River, Floyd Collins) is all written at pitch, without any transposition, even when the score tells you to sue a key of harp other than C. They leace the transposition up to the player.

This may sound difficult, but I found that by:

1) identifying the key note on the page (for instance, second line of the staff for G)

and 

2) Ideintifying the key note of the position (such as Draw 2) with the key note on the staff

I could with a little effort develop lfuency in playing without transposing. I didn't think about the names of the notes on the harp or about the key of the harp once I had the right harp in my hand. 

Rather, I identified both the notes on the page and the holes/breaths/bends on the harp with the degrees of the scale. I taought meyself music theory as a teenager mainly through number the degrees of the scale, so I guess I've internalized it to a degree that I can use it as a bridge between other things.

Now, I read this way all the time using different keys of diatonic.

With chromatic, I find it a little harder because I spent so many years playing only a C chromatic. Hence I tend to take the written note literally without thinking about relating scale degrees to notes within a position. Overall, on chroamtic I think "key" more than I think "position," even though position thinking can be helpful with transposing.

Now I also play D chromatic a lot, in addition to G and even B. Sometimes, my diatonic "bridge" method works, but at other times I find my brain seizes up.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Sun, 3/15/09, Arthur Jennings <timeistight@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Arthur Jennings <timeistight@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Learning, Grammar and Theory
To: "h-l" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sunday, March 15, 2009, 10:27 AM

I hope you folks don't mind a slight derail.

This fascinating topic prompted a question in me for the readers on hapr-l:
how do you negotiate all the different keys of harmonicas you play when
working from a written score?

For example: let's say you're reading  a jazz tune in F and you've
decided
to play it on a Bb harmonica. Would you look for a score written for a
Bb-transposing instrument like a trumpet so the tune would look-like G (one
sharp) or would you be able to read it from concert instrument chart in F
(one flat)? The former seems inconvenient; the latter seems daunting
difficult: you'd ultimately need to learn to negotiate  144 different
harp/score possible combinations.

-- 
Arthur Jennings
http://www.timeistight.com
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