11 and 12 diatonic

["George Brooks" <gbrooks1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Robert Hale wrote:

>If I wanted to explore 11th and 12th position
>diatonic, I would grab a golden melody in the
>key of C, then play 11th in Bb, and 12th in F, right? (whew!)

>What's happening in positions 7th thru 10th?

It's all straight Circle of Fifths.  Here they all are.  On a C harmonica,
playing the position in the left-hand column puts you in the key listed in
the right-hand column:

1st ("straight harp")    =    C
2nd ("cross harp")      =    G
3rd                            =    D
4th                            =    A
5th                            =    E
6th                            =    B
7th                            =    F#/Gb
8th ("fifth flat")            =    Dd
9th ("fourth flat")         =    Ab
10th ("third flat")         =    Eb
11th ("second flat")     =    Bb
12th ("first flat")           =    F

In your situation, I would certainly take Chris Michalek up on his offer to
teach you to overblow.  He is one of the very best.  Even I, deep in his
considerable shadow, believe that I could now teach a motivated student to
overblow in a fraction of the time it took me to learn.

If you really want to play jazz on the diatonic, there is no getting around
learning to overblow and overdraw, IMNSHO.  And if learned, these things
should be learned well because badly executed notes of any kind ruin the
music if the ratio of well executed notes to badly executed notes falls too
low.  Chris is absolutely right that it is not hard to learn to overblow.  I
would submit, however, based on personal experience and close attention to
the playing of others, that it is relatively hard to learn to play overblows
and overdraws well and really integrate them into one's playing.

But more people are doing it every year.  I understand that a number of them
will be at SPAH this year.

George