[Harp-L] Re: Harlem Nocturne

["jazmaan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <dmf273@xxxxxxxxx>]

Joe asked:

>How DO you manage to keep all these different tunings straight? What 
>with remembering the patterns of all these tunings AND the different 
>positions on a plain old 'standard' harp, my brain would implode :)

The truth is that I have very little difficulty in switching from one alternate tuning to another.
   I think that among the few people who may actually try an alternate tuning, even fewer give the
alternate tuning more than a few seconds of attention before they freak out and decide "an old dog
like me could never learn new tricks."    But if they'd just sit down with an alternate tuned harp
for 10 minutes of undivided attention and then follow that up with another 10 minutes the next day
and the next, by the end of the week they'd realize that learning a new tuning is not so difficult
at all.   Once I do get accustomed to a tuning, there's very little conscious adjustment going on
at all in my head.  I'm not thinking about how it's different from Richter, I'm just playing.  
One of the most alien harps I have is a Spanish Spiral that Pat Missin built for me.  It's about
as far from Richter tuning as any harp I've ever played.   The first time I put it in my mouth I
wanted to spit it out and say "Blecch!"   But after 20 minutes with it I was saying "Hey this is
kinda cool!"


Nowadays, all my playing is either Richter or XB-Melody.  When I switch between the two there is
no conscious adjustment at all.  Maybe its because the XB-Melody has a different physical feel to
it, but when I pop it in my mouth, my brain knows exactly what to do without any orders from me.