Re: [Harp-L] 3rd Position

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Seth Galitzer wrote:
> My personal favorite is St. James Infirmary.  I believe the
> traditional key is Dm.  You can find probably hundreds of versions of
> this song online.  I'm partial to Louis Armstrong's rendition (or at
> least one of them), myself.

I love Armstrong's version too.  But 3rd position isn't tops for St. James Infirmary in my opinion.  The reason is that the song isn't in a dorian mode--the 6th degree of the scale is flatted in the melody.  It's a problem in the middle octave in particular, where the flatted sixth isn't available without overblowing. Lots of people overblow now, of course, but lots don't. 

5th position (E on a C harp), which has a flatted 6th, would work better.  Even better is a Natural Minor harp in 2nd position, which gives you lots of great chords to work with.

Regards, Richard Hunter




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