[Harp-L] re: simple tunes

[Jonathan Ross <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Slim wrote:

"Well, Toots has some fun with this tune on his "Apple Dimple" album  
(1990). He takes it at a pretty slow clip, but I suspect he could cut  
it up to tempo ;-)"

He sounds to be struggling mightily at the tempo he uses, so I  
sincerely doubt he'd be better faster.  Really, I don't consider that  
he makes it very musical--the part after the jumps where you have a  
couple of quick slide runs just sounds muddy, where it has to be  
clean and clear.  I'm able to do about this well (not to compare  
myself to Toots in general, just on this particularly difficult  
piece) and I don't consider it satisfactory by any means.

John Mooney wrote:

"Chris Bauer does a masterful job with this Strayhorn classic on his  
"How
High the Moon" CD."

I'm not familiar with the name, but this is the second time someone  
mentioned that he'd done the piece.  I'll see if I can find it.

Robert McGraw wrote:

"...anybody use corner switching on this tune?"

followed by Richard Hunter:

"I think this head is another good
argument for corner switching; it's the only way I can play the line  
in bars 5-6 at anything
close to speed."

Same here.  I never even considered doing anything else for this  
piece--corner switching just seems so logical.  I probably over-use  
corner switching right now anyway, but for this piece I can't see why  
you wouldn't use that to get the wide jumps.

" However, some players clearly manage big jumps and rapid changes in
direction without corner switching, Howard Levy being the obvious  
example."

True.  I did try it with jumps, but that just seemed like a ton more  
work and made the legato feel even worse than with corner-switching.   
You can do it, but it's a bit like using only one hand when playing  
it on mallets, IMO--a lot more work for the same result.

Richard Hunter again:

"Will Galison played this piece onstage at speed at the 1999 Buckeye  
harmonica festival.  "

I'm pretty sure I was there, but I don't remember it.  He's again one  
of a handful I think might have a chance at making it really work.   
But, then I thought Toots might be able to do it too, and, well...

Me:
"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?"

Richard:

"Try the Bach 2-part inventions."

Thanks, there's a great sheet music store near me, so I'll give it a  
shot.




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