Re: Re: [Harp-L] The Outstanding Musical Value of Alternate Tunings

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Chris Michalek wrote:
> Tim, I don't mean to offend you but I thought your playing on the 
> richter tuned harps was much better than the altered tuned ones. 

I'm assuming here that you mean the Paddy Richter, rather than the 
Melody Maker tuned harps.  I actually didn't bring any standard 
tuned harps to SPAH, aside from one I used for reference in my 
positions seminar.  In the case of the Paddy, there's only one note 
different from a standard tuning.  

> There were a few times I wondered to myself why you chose to 
> played the altered harps over the regular ones. I assume at the 
> time you were experiment and forcing yourself out of the box.  

Again, I prefer the raised 5 draw for the major 7th on stuff that 
really hangs there.  I also like using these for 5th position minor, 
because the second degree of the scale lies on the 5 draw rather 
than the 5OB which works better (for me) for scale runs or melody 
lines, and facilitates moving back and forth between the major and 
natural minor modes of the scale. 

One thing that might be an issue is that my Melody Maker tuned harps 
are made from Tombo Ultimos, which are tonally very different from 
my Golden Melodies, and also are set up a little "tighter".  

It's all a journey for me, and it's possible that by this time next 
year I'll be down to just the Paddies.  I'm always trying to reduce 
the number of sets of harps I use to get through my repertoire, 
though certainly not down to one harp!  

Thanks for the kind words,

-tim