Re: [Harp-L] How Musical Theater differs from Blues gigs and jams



I've played Big River on three different productions, and also Floyd Collins.

I agree with everything said. Also, each production is different.

On one production of Big River, a singer couldn't find her pitch on an unaccompanied start to a song where she was joined by others, so the conductor wrote me a solo intro based on the melody - nice little feature for me, and got the singer in at the right pitch. Other times I'd been asked to join the onstage action, partly so that my playing could help keep the singers in time and on pitch. I've also been asked simply to read over the shoulder of the fiddle or bass clarinet and come up with stuff during that long second-act stretch with no written harmonica part.

While it's true that you have to come in on time on the right note and play consistently, I also found that conductors would give me a lot of leeway to improvise and do little flourishes, once they trusted my abilities.

In the case of Big River, I was initially amazed at how idiomatic the harmonica parts were - I thought, boy the composer or arranger really knows how to write for diatonic! Later I learned that the parts were created by harmonica player Don Brooks during he workshop phase.

I also learned a neat reading trick working on Big River. Each diatonic harmonica is in a different key and is written at actual pitch. So each time you pick up a different harmonica, any given hole and breath is in a different place on the treble staff. However, I found that the key to reading easily was Draw 2.

Draw 2 is the home note for second position (and pretty much the whole thing is played in second position except for the bass harmonica parts).

So find the line or space where Draw 2 is located for that key of harp. For instance, on a C-harp it'll be the second line up from the bottom. For a D-harp it's the space above that.

Now Draw 3, 4, 5, and 6 will be the lines or spaces above the line or space where Draw 2 is located. For instance, on a C-harp Draw 2 is th second line from the bottom, Draw 3 is the third line, Draw 4 is the 4th line, Draw 5 is the top line, and Draw 6 is the first ledger line above the staff.

The blow notes for each hole will be the line or space directly below where the draw note is located.

Below Draw 2, you can use the blow notes to orient yourself. Switch from Draw 2 to Blow 3 (they're the same note). On a C-harp, Blow 3 is the second line from the bottom, Blow 2 is the bottom line, and Blow 1 is the first ledger line below the staff. Draw 1 is the note directly above Blow 1. Draw 2 bend is on the line or space directly above Blow 2. Draw 3 middle bend is the line or space directly above Blow 3.

Move these around according to the key of harp. For an A-harp, shift everything down one line from a C-harp (Draw 2 is now the bottom line and everything else shifts down accordingly). For a D-harp, Draw 2 is the space above the second line from the bottom, so relative to a C-harp, everything shifts up one notch. You can use similar transformations for any key of harmonica.

Winslow
 
Winslow Yerxa
President, SPAH, the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica
Producer, the Spring 2014 Harmonica Collective
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
            Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
            Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance


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