[Harp-L] WVa Bob Goes Legit...sort of.



I've been asked to play the harmonica part in the Mark Hayes choral
arrangement of "Home on the Range" at a concert for the annual VMEA
[Virginia Music Educators Association] state conference this Nov 18th. The
choir will be the Virginia Honors Choir, made up of some of the best high
school choral singers in the state of Virginia; the concert will be
attended by elementary, secondary, and college music teachers from all
over the state of Virginia.

I feel honored, lucky, and nervous all at once :-)

Maybe someone on the list has played this part before? The harmonica part
itself is very simple, mostly just bits of the melody, but the piece as a
whole is beautiful, subtle, and evocative. The arrangement begins in G
then modulates to Ab; I'll use diatonics in those keys.The arranger, Mark
Hayes, obviously knows something about how the diatonic harmonica is laid
out because the score calls for the harmonica to play an inversion of the
Ab triad [C-Eb-Ab], which is, of course, available on the Ab diatonic in
holes 2-3-4, 5-6-7, or 8-9-10...the part calls for it to be played in the
middle register of the harmonica. The presence of this chord in the
harmonica part also indicates to me that Hayes wants the part played on
diatonic rather than chromatic...

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this. My goal is to be throughly
prepared, watch the conductor closely, and do as good a job as I can. I
want to add my little bit to the music and maybe cause some music
educators to leave the concert with a good feeling about the harmonica.
I'll post after the concert and report on how it went.
WVa Bob





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