Re: [Harp-L] Blow/Draw Switch at Hole 7

["Jonathan Metts" <jonathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

So for those of us not interested in playing four holes at once, making the layout consistent across the entire harp would be a perfectly viable approach.  Would you agree?  I play big chords on occasion but rarely mixed with single-note playing, so this feature of the Richter tuning does not seem useful in most cases.

Jonathan Metts


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Rick Dempster 
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx ; Jonathan Metts 
Sent: Monday, June 26, 2006 7:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Blow/Draw Switch at Hole 7


John;
         There is a clear logic going on in the Richter system. The idea is to have a straight major chord on the blow, and all the other notes of the scale  (which also comprise the dominant 5 chord, the most important after the root (blow) chord) on the draw side.
         As there are only seven notes in the major scale, continuing an even blow-draw pattern up the harp so that each draw note produced a tone higher than its paired blow reed (as it is from hole 1-6) would result in the blow chord from hole 4 looking like this: CEGBDFA  while the draw chord (from hole 4) would go DFACEGC. This presents a set of problems no easier to deal with than what you have already.
        The only way around this would be to have two consecutive root notes (C in this example) like the chromatic does: CEGCCEGC; which would necessitate a longer harp to achieve the same range.
         Don't forget that the diatonic harp was made as a cheap and novel way of playing simple folk melodies in one key.
         The Richter system makes a lot of good sense given the constraints of a ten hole, twenty reed instrument. No matter what tuning alterations you try, you will gain only as much as you lose. It will always remain thus until one of us works out how to inhale and exhale at the same time, preferably from opposite sides of the mouth.

Good luck!
RD
         

>>> "Jonathan Metts" <jonathan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 27/06/2006 8:33:34 >>>
Can someone explain to me why the Richter tuning pattern of blow/draw switches at hole 7 on a diatonic?  And has anyone tried setting up a harp so that there is no switchover (draw bends and overblows across the entire harp)?

Jonathan Metts

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