RE: An audio sample of harmonic minor and natural minor?

["Smith, Richard" <rismith@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have a couple of Lee Oskars in Natural Minor, and I personally
find playing them to be very intuitive.  When playing in a minor 
key on a standard tuning diatonic, I find myself thinking about
being careful not to try to play certain notes, because they 
won't fit in a minor key.  However, when playing the Natural Minor
I just play it with feeling, instead of thinking, and the notes
I want to hear are there. 

Richard J. Smith, R.A.


- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf
Of Richard Hunter
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 2:26 PM
To: harp-l-digest
Subject: RE: An audio sample of harmonic minor and natural minor?



Chris Michalek wrote:
<<
FWIW, while interesting,I find altered tuned harps to be mostly
useless.  I would think differently if I were a player like Brendan
Power or Bill Barrett but I choose to model myself after the likes of
Michael Peloquin and Rosco Selley
<<

This is like a guitar player calling open G tuning as "useless" because said guitarist prefers to model him or herself after BB King, as opposed to Robert Johnson.  Is Robert Johnson's work "useless"?  A given tuning is "useless" to a given player because said player can't or won't figure out how to use it, not because the tuning is deficient.  Any tuning for any instrument is essentially arbitrary; what matters is whether the tuning makes it easier for a player to make certain sounds and evoke certain emotions.  

Alternate tunings open up lots and lots of new musical and emotional possibilities.  As examples, you can find multiple solo harmonica pieces recorded with alternative diatonic tunings -- in particular, Country tuning and Natural Minor -- free for downloading at my website at 
http://www.hunterharp.com/mp3s.html

I think these pieces make it pretty clear that non-standard tunings make some new ideas and emotions available to the diatonic harp.  My piece "Widow's Walk" and my arrangements of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" and "Billy the Kid" (the latter recorded on a country-tuned harp) are impossible to play on a standard-tuned diatonic.  Subscribers to my free subscription list have also heard my power-trio blues "Minor Kill," also recorded on a Natural Minor harmonica, also impossible to play on a standard diatonic.  And we haven't even started talking yet about Melody Makers, Dorian minors, harmonica minors . . .    

Many players seem to think that choices of tunings are mutually exclusive, i.e. that one either plays all standard tunings or all non-standards.  That's a false assumption.  Non-standard tunings are inexpensive, easy to learn, and produce a big emotional impact.  Every player who wants to get maximum mileage from basic diatonic harmonica technique, with minimum effort, should have a couple of non-standard tunings in the kit.

Buy a Natural Minor and play some of your favorite 2nd position blues licks on it, just as you would on a standard tuning.  Then open up your mouth and hit some big chords, and work those chords on a set of blues changes.  You'll hear what I'm talking about.

Thanks and regards, Richard Hunter

 



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