[Harp-L] The anti-chromatic harmonica

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Recent harp-l discussions about Body & Soul, the place of extended
techniques, levels of proficiency relative to other instruments, etc.
have focused on comparison with instruments of greater chromatic
flexibility - saxophone, piano, guitar, etc.

Along with such comparisons went statements that even the most
"advanced" diatonic harmonica players are not meeting the basic
standards of proficiency taken for granted for those instruments.

Let me first address the second statement. There are plenty of amateur
guitarists who are plenty lousy at being able to play advanced chord
types and progressions, pick up new tunes quickly, etc. Generally
speaking, I don't think the state of guitar playing is any higher than
that of harmonica playing. Even the most advanced harmonica players
under discussion are, with a few exceptions, not full-time professional
musicians and therefore cannot fairly be judged by professional
standards. Judged by amateur standards, they are very advanced players.

Same goes for amateur folk fiddlers, who can be very good at a certain
type of repertoire but no good at all at playing anything that goes
beyond the first hand-position, at improvising, or playing anything
that resembles classical music. Like the blues harp greats, some of
these folks are among the greats for their folk styles.

Now back to the first point, about chromatic flexibility.

I have no argument with harmonica players who want to extend the
chromatic capabilities of the diatonic instrument. But my personal
interest has taken me in the opposite direction in the last few years.
Instead of emulating instruments with greater chromaticity, I've taken
to looking at instruments with equal or lesser chromaticity and far
more limited range. Good players on these instruments can create
amazing music that is both within the resources of the instrument and
highly idiomatic and convincing.

I'm referring to instruments like:

Bagpipes (9-note diatonic scale)

Tin whistle (diatonic scale, range less than 2 octaves, comes in
multiple keys like harmonica, has similar issues with key changes,
chromatic notes)

Button accordion - similar tuning to diatonic harmonica, similar
multiplicity of types and keys, but far more expensive. Good one-row
instrument in C or D can easily run $1,500. Anyone willing to pay that
for a C-harp or a D-harp?

SO why doesn't the tin whistle player get a flute, or the button
accordion player get a fully chromatic piano or multi-row button model
that plays the same note on both push and pull? Why doesn't the piper
get one of those fully chromatic French models and find ways to extend
the range?

It's a matter of expressive capabilities unique to each type of
instrument, their adaptation to a particular style and the many, many
things a player can find to deliver, express, and enhance the music
within the limits imposed by the instrument.

Anyone remember Rufus Harley?
http://www.hipwax.com/music/patch/horns_rh.html

Interestingly, the diatonic harmonica has its own set of native
techniques and expressive devices, and these were already well explored
by the end of the 1920s, as heard in the recordings made by pre-war
rural players both in the American south and in Quebec.

My present path includes not only utilizing the old native techniques
but also borrowing concepts and even concrete techniques from pipes,
fiddle, button box, and whistle. If, along the way, I include the
occasional bend or overbend to achieve my purposes, well, sue me.

Maybe in a few years I will have progressed to playing everything on a
jaw harp in double-low D.

Winslow

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