[Harp-L] RE: Sheet music to popular/easy melodies

["MLeFree" <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob Cohen asked:
> Can anyone point me to (preferably free) resources from which I can
> get sheet music, not harp tab, written in C for all those goofy first
> position melodies (e.g., Oh Susanna, Camp Town Races, etc.) we all
> fumbled through back in the day. I've got a hoard of them in my head
> and could, if pressed, write them out but that seems like reinventing
> the wheel. One of my students seems to do much better when he's
> doing actual songs rather than exercises.

You now have a link to at least one free on-line source of sheet music, Bob.
But you may not know that, for a relatively small investment ($10-$50 or
so), you can get dozens to hundreds of songs in a single "Fake Book." Yeah,
the name fooled me, too. The books aren't fake. They're so named because
they contain melodies in the key of C along with the chords and the words
that make up the songs. Fake books are intended to contain enough
information to make it easy for a musician to "fake" a song. Depends on the
musician, I suppose.  ;^)

Anyway, each book usually covers an aspect or genre of music, so you can
collect several. Take a look at your favorite book or music store and see
which Fake book contains most or all of the songs you are intersted in and
go for it. Buying tip: be sure to look carefully at the contents of each
volume you are interested in. There may a number of books with very similar
titles covering the same genre. You need to be careful because one book may
have 50 songs and another of a similar price, might have 150-500.

Since you mentioned first position, I assume ou are playing a diatonic. If
so, you might also want to take a look at one or more of Jon Gindick's
book/CD products (Google Gindick, heh, heh). There are three that I know of
that cover precisely the kind of songs you mentioned. You need to look at
each one to see which have sheet music. I know all have tabs. The book that
might be the best immediate fit is "Harmonica Americana," which concentrates
on playing 30 of your favorite songs in first position. "Rock n' Blues
Harmonica Vol II" an "Cross Harp Song Book" concentrates on playing similar
songs but in second position. They are all fun to learn from and if you
complete all three book/CD lessons you will have become (or already are) a
pretty accomplished diatonic player.

(Usual disclaimers; no connection other than as a satisfied customer.)
Buying tip: shop around.

Michelle