Fwd: [Harp-L] upper register - some second position exercises

["Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

There are a few basic exercises that can help you get familiar with 
the top octave in second position.

First off, the Banana Splits theme:

9B 8B 8D

9B 9B 8D

9B 8B 8D 7B 

7D 6D 6B

Then, play this liick that starts on the home notes - both blow 
notes, and plays all the draw notes in between:

6B 6D 7D 8D 9D 9B

and back down:

9B 9D 8D 7D 6D 6B

Then, going up, each time you come to the next draw note, play it, 
then the blow note in the same nhole, then back to the draw note and 
back down.

For instance:

6B 6D 6B

6B 6D 7D - 7B 7D 6D 6B

6B 6D 7D 8D - 8B 8D 7D 6D 6B

and so on.

In other words, use the draw notes as reference points to find where 
the blow notes are located. The draw notes are the notes of the home 
chord so they're good anchors.

A sort of reverse version of the exercise above is to start in 9 Blow 
and work the blow notes going down, finding which draw note is in the 
same hole:

9B 9D 9B

9B 8B - 8D 8B 9B

9B 8B 7B - 7D 7B 8B 9B

and so on.

Hope this helps.

Winslow

--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "bloozeharp" <bloozeharp@...> 
wrote:

Up until recently I didn't really realize that 95% of my 2nd position 
playing has been using the 1st 5 holes. I've been working on trying 
to incorporate more of the harp in my playing. Getting the 7-10 holes 
to cooperate has not been too productive. I am aware that the draw 
notes on the 1-6 holes are higher in pitch that the blow notes and  
its the opposite on the 7-10. Is that the reason that those holes 
sound like they are from another planet when I reach up there from 
say the 4th hole and try to get it to blend in? I've been practicing 
a scale that runs from the 4-9 to get the feel of it, but when I try 
to grab the uppers during the song it can sound pretty rough. Any 
advice on how to approach this in practice?