Re: [Harp-L] What is a scale??..damn kid, what the heck's a position??

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

It may be good enough for the wind instrument family, but music
publishers and harmonica players have other preferences.

Publishers insist on writing everything out at actual pitch, or perhaps
octave displaced, regardless of the key of harmonica used. This is also
true of harmonica parts in BRoadway musicals, regardless of the key and
type of harmonica indicated on the score.

Players like the position idea. Nobody imposed it on them.

I once wrote out a Toots Thielemans solo that had been played in the
key of concert Ab but on a G harmonica (chromatic). 

Now, if you're used to playing a C harmonica and pick up a G harp,
everything comes out 4 notes lower. Play what should be a C, and it
sounds a G. Play an F and it comes out C, and so on.

Now this particular solo was in the key of Ab. But on a G harmonica,
that plays as the key of Db. So I wrote it out in Db. This confused the
hell out of everyone, even though it was clearly labeled. 

Harmonica players just don't have the idea of a transposing instrument
in their heads. It's a foreign concept to most. Even though they use
the idea all the time and call it a "position."

Winslow

--- Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> It may be good enough for the wind instrument family, but music
> publishers and harmonica players have other preferences.
> 
> Publishers insist on writing everything out at actual pitch, or
> perhaps
> octave displaced, regardless of the key of harmonica used. This is
> also
> true of harmonica parts in BRoadway musicals, regardless of the key
> and
> type of harmonica indicated on the score.
> 
> Players like the position idea. Nobody imposed it on them.
> 
> I once wrote out a Toots Thielemans solo that had been played in the
> key of concert Ab but on a G harmonica (chromatic). 
> 
> Now, if you're used to playing a C harmonica and pick up a G,
> everything comes out 4 notes lower. Play what should be a C, and it
> sounds a G. Play and F and it comes out C, and so on.
> 
> Now this particular solo was in the key of Ab. But on a G harmonica,
> that plays as the key of Db. So I wrote it out in Db. This confused
> the
> hell out of everyone, even though it was clearly labeled. 
> 
> Harmonica players just don't have the idea of a transposing
> instrument
> in their heads. It's a foreign concept to most. Even though they use
> the idea all the time and call it a "position."
> 
> Winslow
> 
> 
> --- Rick Dempster <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> > In reply to Sam's pondering:
> >  " When learning the scales, Should I work them
> > out on a staff using the notes on a C harp as a reference and just
> > infer
> > what I learn to the other keys or should I really learn every note
> > lay-out
> > for every harp I use? "
> > 
> >       Glad you brought that up Sam, because it's a bone I like
> > picking
> > at. I've taught harmonica in groups for seven years. The concept of
> > 'position'  is one that students have the greatest difficulty in
> > grasping. On this list, which expects and welcome's the novice, the
> > use
> > of 'position' needs to be explained and contextualised again and
> > again.
> > Some folk still use "fourth" to mean key of E on a C harp, with
> > perhaps
> > the majority now using "fourth" to mean A on a C harp, according to
> > the
> > cycle of 4ths.
> >      As I understand it, trumpet and tenor sax players are playing
> Bb
> > instruments; that is to say, the natural or easiest scale to play
> on
> > those instruments is Bb. Yet horn players call the fingering that
> > produces the concert Bb scale 'C'. When the same fingering is used
> on
> > a
> > C melody sax, you get a concert C scale. Similarly, with alto sax,
> > which
> > is pitched in Eb, the fingering which produces the concert Eb scale
> > is
> > called C.
> >     It is a whole lot simpler;it just gets a bit messy when you are
> > writing or reading music, because you either have to transpose it
> > mentally or re-write for the particular instrument.
> >     I would like to see the whole 'position' thing dropped. In
> fact,
> > from here on, I will add the disclaimer to all my emails "C harp
> > spoken
> > only" so that it is understood that 1st is C, 2nd G, 3rd D, 4th A,
> > 5th
> > E. 6th B, etc. etc.
> >     If it's good enough for the whole wind instrument family, it's
> > good
> > enough for a harmonica player!
> > Cheers,
> > RD
> > _______________________________________________
> > Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> > Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> > http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l
> > 
> 
> 
> 
>  
>
____________________________________________________________________________________
> Cheap talk?
> Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates.
> http://voice.yahoo.com
> 



 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Cheap talk?
Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates.
http://voice.yahoo.com