A fifth above? and a lesson.

["MaryLarryCarleighReilly Pratt" <mlpratt@xxxxxxx>]

JR "Bulldogge" Ross wrote:

When counting you start _on_ or _with_ the key of the
harmonica (or chord, or scale, etc...), thus C, D, E, F, G.  That gets
five, thus G is the fifth.

To which I reply:

Thanks JR.  The answer is counting in terms of the scale of the harmonica
key.  I learned this, I know this, but it is sometimes hard to shake bad
habits.  What had confused me was a trick that I learned early on to
determine song/harp key for second position.  It's count down by half-steps,
from the harp key to the song key.  G (the song key) is five half steps
below C, the harp key).  Not counting C, that would be B, Bb, A, Ab, G.  Its
works both ways, if you know the song key count up five half-steps.

The lesson:  This is a cute trick, and it works well for beginners trying to
figure out which harp to use for a given song key.  But its not very
musically sound.  Part of musical notation and terminology is the ability to
communicate with other musicians.  (an admitted weakness of mine)  The
lesson here is to learn as much as you can about music.  It will not only
help you communicate with other musicians, but also it will raise your level
of playing, creativity, and range.

Best Regards to All,

Larry Boy Pratt