Re; [Harp-L] Position Perception

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Ansel Barnum writes:

I was wondering how people think about the position they're playing in.
It seems like there are two possible approaches: 1) Consider each
position as an independent entity with its own sequence of notes or 2)
consider each position as a mode whose sequence of notes is that of
first position. 

===================Winslow:

I'm not sure what you mean here. I should point out that position and
scale are independent. Let's say you have a C harp and you play music
that has a tonal center of G. That makes it second position.

It doesn't matter if it's G major, G minor, G dorian, mixolydian,
whatever. As long as the harp is in C and the tonal center is G, it's
second position.

=============Ansel:

On a piano, option 2) is the easy one: If you know the notes of a major
scale, then it's trivial to play the scale in any mode (just change the
starting note).

============Winslow:

In so doing you also change the position. Let's say you choose the C
major scale on that C harp. PLay it as Ionian mode, the tonal center is
C, therefore first position. Let's say we choose the Mixolydian mode of
that same C major scale. The tonal center is now G so you're in second
position. and so on. I refer to the overall tonal center of a piece of
music, not of momentary shifts caused by chord progressions within a
key or the act of running up and down scale exercises using different
starting notes.

==========Ansel: 


This is because playing the piano is a visual act, so you can see where
your fingers are relative to the keys on the keyboard. But you can't
see where your lips are on the harp, nor can you see the distance
between holes (half step, whole step, no step, etc.) or where a bend
needs to be inserted as called for by the Ionian scale. Consequently, I
find myself using approach 1), tackling each position as a new sequence
to learn on its own. But it seems like if someone could become so
intimate with the notes on the harp, then they could visualize them
like the keys on a piano and seamlessly transition from one position to
another with ease. Is this what happens when one reaches the mountain
top and achieves harp enlightenment?

===============Winslow:

This flax weighs three pounds (never mind, a zen joke).

The more familiar you get with your harmonica, the easier it gets to
play. Part of this is knowing where all the notes are and how to get to
them, and where all the other notes are in relation to any notes you
may have in mind, and how to get from one place to another.

Personally, I have a quasi-visual map in my mind's eye. I know Howard
Levy sees a piano keyboard because he plays piano. Whether visual or
not, I think it helps to have some way to map the lay of the land.

Of course the points on the map look different depending on the vantage
point created by the tonal center. In second position, 2 Draw and 6
Blow feel like the center of things, with everything else leading to
and from those points. In another position the focus and the vantage
point will be somewhere else so the same points on the map will have
different meanings.

Winslow

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