[Harp-L] note perception

[Jp Pagan <jpl_pagan@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, icemanle@...
wrote:
>
> I started on piano.
>  
> It always interests me in how those of you who start
on harmonica >perceive the notes. I imagine a keyboard
in my mind.

alot of people say that. i never hear anyone say they
imagine a guitar neck ;) 
my mental image is very much like Mike Will's diatonic
layout generator visuals:

http://www.angelfire.com/tx/myquill/Harpscript

2 rows of boxes with with blow notes on top, draw
notes on the bottom, and bends and overbends as notes
that either on top of or below those 2 rows (bends are
below, overbends are above). 
for chromatic, it's essentially the same - 4 stacked
rows of notes, the slide-in notes are the outermost
rows.
it gets interesting (to me anyway) because some
things, like the blues scale, exist as visual patterns
in my mind, whereas other things, like exact pitches,
i can't always see. for example, i can picture a C
diatonic in my mind pretty quickly, but not an A. so
when i play in A, i tend to picture either scale
degrees, or just empty boxes with fill-ins where the
"pattern notes" are. of course, i don't mean to
suggest i'm constantly visualizing a harmonica when i
play, but it does happen, especially when i'm
listening to music that i'm not playing -- i visualize
where i think the notes are on my "mental harmonica."
lastly, there is a slight 3-dimensional tinge to it as
i do perceive blow notes to be moving away from me and
draw notes to be moving towards me. weird, i know.

  --Jp

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