Harp tablature



ONSCREEN HARP NOTATION

I've been following the thread about ASCII harp notation, and
about Music TeX. I have a proposal.

My proposal allows you to graphically diagram actions on the
harmonica, and it allows for a crude form of real-time animation
onscreen.

Since the beginning, HIP - the Harmonica Information Publication
has used tuning diagrams to show harp licks. You can do it
onscreen like this:

      1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9     10
   =======================================================================
DR |      |      |  3   |  4   |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |  1   | b2   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------|
   |      |      |      |      |  5   |      |      |      |      |      |
BL |      |      |      |      |  6   |      |      |      |      |      |
   =======================================================================

(opening lick to Little Walter's "Juke")

You don't even have to draw your own diagram. I've included a
blank one - download it and make copies (see usage notes below).
(Yes, I know, there are much better box-drawing characters, but
The INternet email doesn't support them).

The numbers in the boxes refer to the order of notes. 1 is played
first; 2 is played second, etc.

BENDS are indicated by "b," like a flat. Bending a note two
semitones is indicated with "bb" - two flats. Three flats is -
you guessed it - "bbb."

OVERBLOWS and overdraws are indicated by an "x" before the note,
as in "x6". If you're into bending overblows up, you can write #x
for bending it up one semitone (#x6), or xx for bending it up two
semitones (xx6). If you can bend an overblow up three semitones,
you don't need to be reading this.

You can make the boxes even taller if you're likely to show a lot
of notes in the same hole on the same breath.

LIMITATIONS

This is a plain, easy way to diagram. True, it doesn't show
durations, but there are ways of adding that. Besides, you can
vary the time in most really good licks to come up with all sorts
of variations.

Another limitation is that a very long lick, or one that doubles back
a lot over the same space, can get very messy. That's where
animation comes in (see below).

ADDING NOTES TO A DIAGRAM

To place notes in a diagram, put your text editor in "overstrike"
mode, usually by pressing the insert key. In this mode, anything you
type overtypes - destroys - the spaces and characters in its way.
This way, the values you enter don't push aside and derange the
diagram grid.

Use the arrow keys, NOT the spacebar, to move to the right (the
spacebar is destructive in overtype mode).

DEVIATION FROM USUAL PRACTICE

You may notice that I put the blow notes on the bottom. This
makes sense because in most holes they are lower in pitch than
the blow note. Diagramming, for instance, a rising chromatic
scale this way makes more sense than the traditional way, because
they also ascend in the diagram, instead of zigzaggin around. Of
course, with overblows . . .

The HIP way:

      1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9     10
   =======================================================================
   |      |      |   8  |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
DR |      |   4  |  b7  |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |  b3  | bb6  |  11  |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      | bb2  |bbb5  | b10  |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------|
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
BL |      |  1   |      |  9   |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   =======================================================================


The traditional way:


      1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9     10
   =======================================================================
BL |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |  1   |      |  9   |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------|
   |      |      |   8  |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |   4  |  b7  |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |  b3  | bb6  |  11  |      |      |      |      |      |      |
DR |      | bb2  |bbb5  | b10  |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   =======================================================================

AN|MAT|ON

You've all seen the crude sense of motion you can get by using
your thumb to riffle a stack of pages that have a series of
drawings, right? You can do the same thing with these diagrams
onscreen, using the <PAGE DOWN> key as your thumb.

Each time you hit the <PAGE DOWN> key, the display moves down by
21 lines. When writing an anumation sequence, just make your page
21 lines long, and always put the diagram in the same place on
the page. You can put one note per diagram, and one diagram per screen.

When you play it back, just hit the <PAGE DOWN> key to get to the next
note on the diagram. It looks like the diagram stays the same,
and the note changes. <PAGE UP> will take you backwards through
the lick.

Here's an example. This may not work for reading online, where
the scrolling is different and you can't go backwards. Download
this, place the X on the first line, then hit <PAGE DOWN> for an
animated sequence.

ANIMATED SEQUENCE (Juke again)

X  <-- place on first display line



      1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9     10
   =======================================================================
DR |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |  1   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------|
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
BL |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   =======================================================================

   LEAD|N BAR
   BEAT 3 PART 3 (triplet feel)










      1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9     10
   =======================================================================
DR |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |      | b2   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------|
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
BL |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   =======================================================================

   LEADIN BAR
   BEAT 4 PART 1 (swing sixteenths)










      1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9     10
   =======================================================================
DR |      |      |  3   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------|
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
BL |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   =======================================================================

   LEAD|N BAR
   BEAT 4 PART 2 (swing sixteenths)










      1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9     10
   =======================================================================
DR |      |      |      |  4   |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------|
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
BL |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   =======================================================================

   LEAD|N BAR
   BEAT FOUR PART 3 (swing sixteenths)










      1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9     10
   =======================================================================
DR |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------|
   |      |      |      |      |  5   |      |      |      |      |      |
BL |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   =======================================================================

   LEAD|N BAR
   BEAT FOUR PART 4 (swing sixteenths)










      1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9     10
   =======================================================================
DR |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------|
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
BL |      |      |      |      |      |  6   |      |      |      |      |
   =======================================================================

   BAR ONE
   BEAT ONE PART 1 (triplet feel)










      1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9     10
   =======================================================================
DR |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------|
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
BL |      |      |      |      |      |  7   |      |      |      |      |
   =======================================================================

   BAR ONE
   BEAT ONE PART 3 (triplet feel)



(end of lick)

Cool, huh?

Following is a blank diagram . Just make copies, then fill in in
overtype mode.


      1      2      3      4      5      6      7      8      9     10
   =======================================================================
DR |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   |------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------|
   |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
BL |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
   =======================================================================


Winslow T. Yerxa
Harmonica Information Press





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