[Harp-L] simple tunes

[Jonathan Ross <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

jazmaan wrote:

"Anybody here play "Tea for Two" on one diatonic?   I'm finding this  
simple tune quite a challenge
-even on my XB-Melody.  "

I can't say I've tried.  I don't know the melody well enough to try  
it from memory--I can hum the first part, "tea for two and two for  
tea", but that's it.

Still, this goes with something I've been working on lately.  It's  
interesting how a seemingly simple tune can be extremely hard when  
you actually sit down to try it.  For instance, the head to the  
Strayhorn (Ellington band) piece "Take the "A" Train" is, IMO,  
unplayable on diatonic and pretty close to it on chromatic (at  
speed).  It's a very simple melody on paper, and quite easy on most  
instruments (a snap on mallets and keyboard, for instance--I can't  
say for others, but obviously sax players have no problems with it)  
but on either diatonic or chromatic it just does not lay well at  
all.  I've tried it in a few ways on diatonic, and with a couple of  
tunings (standard, Paddy Richter--on both Richter and XB diatonics)  
but it just doesn't work.  The speed,the bends  and the jumps  
involved are just incompatible to put together successfully.

It's really not much better on chromatic--the jumps, speed and  
particular slide usage are just plain nasty.  I can do it, but not  
well.  Perhaps the traditional trio players might have insight into  
this, as they seem to have a great ability to play quite fast with  
similar tunes.  But, I've never heard any harmonica player do this  
piece that I can recall, so that might be significant.

The point to all this is that sometimes I find the instrument tells  
me what it does and does not want to do.  For instance, "The Girl  
from Ipanema" is just so easy on the harmonica (chromatic diatonic  
and octaves and tremolos--at least the head--I haven't tried the B  
section on anything but chromatic yet...) that it seems as if it was  
written for harp.  And on paper it really isn't any simpler than  
"Take the "A" Train" (actually, in the fake book I have its' much  
more complex, but that's because I'm convinced they either got it  
wrong or are working from some version of it neither I nor a several  
of my musical friends have ever heard).

I'm always interested in the difficulties of transcription.  I've  
heard plenty of orchestral pieces transcribed to organ, for instance,  
and certainly not all are successful.  Sometimes they are possible  
better than the original (I have an organ transcription of Holts'  
"The Planets" which is better than any orchestral version I've heard  
by far), but just as often they fail.  I would bet the same is true  
of transcribing to any instrument--in this case the harmonica--and in  
any genre--in this case jazz or standards.

Which leads to another question.  What would one recommend as a good  
starting point for working on classical harmonica transcriptions?  I  
know the Bach flute and violin pieces have often been done, but what  
ones in particular would those who have tried recommend for starting  
out?



 ()()    JR "Bulldogge" Ross
()  ()   & Snuffy, too:)
`----'