Re: Re: [Harp-L] Draw 6-7 while tongue blocking (was Paddy Richter for Blues?)

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Ken - 

This may also be a matter of temperament. Listening to the old-time
Quebec players, they tongue vamp Draw 6-7 all the time as part of a
chord, yet it usually sounds quite acceptable. 

I suspect it has something to do with the tempering of 5 draw on older
harmonicas to a lower pitch, making the draw V7 chord sound sweet
(while making the 4th degree of the scale sound rather flat in
melodies).

It may also have to do with rhythmic placement of the chords and how
they connect with the material that precedes and follows. Even the most
monstrous dissonances can be made to sound acceptable to the ear if
they are prepared and resolved carefully.

One possibility may be to work out a way of doing tongue-lift chords
that omits one of the notes - sort of a reach-around.

For instance, let's say your melody note is Draw 8. Rather than lift
your tongue fully, you could do a side-switch to the left and only
expose holes 5 and 6 while keeping 7 covered. You could even leave Hole
8 open while you do this - like going to a split interval, buth with 2
notes open on the left instead of just one.

Another possibility that might be preferable in some circumstances
would be to go to Draw 5 on the right with 7 and 8 on the left - just
put the two-hole opening on the right side of the split.

Yet another possibility is to play from the left side of your mouth and
chord to the left. It's a brighter sound to be sure but it offers
variety. Of course if you're already playing melody up high you may
have all the brightness you want (not to mention a lack of real estate
availble on the right for tongue vamping).

Winslow


--- Ken Ficara <kenficara@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I play a lot of fiddle-tunes tongue-blocked, to add some rhythm to
> the
> melody by doing quick lifts on the upbeat. However, if you play
> melodies in the top octave of the harp, you can't tongue-block for
> rhythm on the draw notes, because you'll end up playing the
> 6-draw/7-draw combo, the 6th and 7th notes of the scale in first
> position, which sounds terrible. This is the only spot on the harp
> where you don't get a chord by playing adjacent holes together.
> Therefore I'm sometimes torn between playing very fast and clean
> melody notes in the top half of the harp (where you have that nice
> 6-draw) or playing melodies and rhythm on the bottom half but having
> to bend 3-blow to get the missing note down there.
> 
> I am NO expert on harmonica tunings, but it seems to me impossible to
> tune 6-draw or 7-draw so that you'd get a chord when playing them
> (along with the other adjacent draw notes) but still be able to play
> a
> melody that descended below 7-blow.
> 
> I really want to have my harmonica cake and eat it too, but I'm sure
> the reason the damn thing is laid out that way is that there's no
> alternative that makes sense. It's like the B string on the guitar.
> 
> Ken
> 
> On Wed, 12 Jan 2005 19:36:41 -0000, Winslow Yerxa
> <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > 
> > --- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Ken Ficara <kenficara@xxxx>
> > wrote:
> > <snip>
> > 
> > In fact I've often wished I had a tuning that would let me do
> > tongue-blocking over the nasty 6-7 draw area, but I don't think
> that's
> > possible without seriously impairing the ability to play melodies.
> > 
> > ========Winslow writes:
> > 
> > Wondering what you mean by the above - please amplify.
> > 
> > W.
> > 
> > 
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> > 
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> Ken Ficara
> Music, quotes, writing and more at 
> http://www.kenficara.com
> 



		
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