RE: [Harp-L] Theory, etc. - history of positions

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

De Ford Bailey used both first and second positions. At the moment I'm
not where I could go through his Opry-era records and determine the
ratio, but the amount of first position is higher than you might
assume.

Stevie played a C chromatic in the key of E for Isn't She Lovely. I've
gone over that particular record at half-speed and transcribed it in
detail, including all the little slide movements. It's not an A
chromatic (second position) if that's what you're getting at.

Winslow

--- Mark Lavoie <lavoie@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Winslow,
> What about DeFord Bailey? Also what key chromatic harmonica does
> Stevie
> Wonder use in, Is'nt She Lovely?
> Stay tuned!
> Mark
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx]On
> Behalf Of Winslow Yerxa
> Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2007 6:49 PM
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Theory, etc. - history of positions
> 
> 
> 
> --- Marc Spilka <marc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> <snip>
> > Who is credited for inventing cross harp?  i'm assuming it was some
> > old time
> > poor uneducated musician but how the hell did someone come up with
> > the idea
> > of playing a harp a 4th above the tonic key?
> 
> You mean a 5th above the tonic key. C-D-E-F-G, 1-2-3-4-5 (you count
> the
> starting note)
> 
> The origin is lost in the mists of time. Early American instruction
> books dating from the 1870s and 1880s make no mention of it, and the
> very earliest recordings, circa 1900, are in first position. Jump
> ahead
> to the 1920s, with not much harp recorded in between as far as anyone
> knows - and we find recordings of second position playing, starting
> with Henry Whittier, a white rural southerner. Fourth position (A on
> a
> C harp), fifth position (E on a C harp) and 12th (F on a C harp) also
> made appearances during the 1920s.
> 
> So evidently playing a harmonica in a key other that the labeled one
> started very early. Why buy five harp, even at a nickel apiece, when
> one will do?
> 
> Once in a while I have heard the term "cross" or "crossed" used to
> describe playing a diatonic accordion in other than the labeled key,
> so
> the term may be borrowed from accordion - or maybe accordionists
> borrowed from harp players - who knows? Cajun players of the one-row
> diatonic accordion, whose ten buttons have the same note layout as
> the
> ten holes of the diatonic harmonica, commonly play their instruments
> in
> what we call second position. C is the most popular key of box, and
> they usually play it in G.
> 
> Winslow
> 
> 
> 
> 
>
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