Re: [Harp-L] Toots Hard Bopper

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Guy;
        From another chromatic stumbler:the simplest frame of reference is hole 4-7 on the diatonic. This is the pattern of the chromatic;, and when it finishes, it starts again - so it has two blow Cs next to each other.
        It's exactly the same when the slide is 'in'. The trouble begins when you start to think about it: 'Slide In' gives you the black notes of the piano; but there's only five black notes (which would leave you with one and a half holes with no note) and there's seven notes in the major scale.
        You need two white notes to make up the 'Slide In' (C# on a C harp) so the gaps in the black note pattern are filled up with an extra F and an extra C - making 3 Cs and two Fs.
       I'm probably telling you what you already know, so if this sounds patronising, just read it as a remedial exercise for
Your's truly,
RD

>>> "Guy Buxman" <gbuxman@xxxxxxxxx> 4/10/2007 10:17 >>>
Several months ago I purchased my first chromatic harp . I had decided on a
Toots Hard Bopper in the key of C which I got from MusiciansFriend for
$99.00.

Being a diatonic player I don't really have frame of reference for chromatic
performance, but I'm very pleased with my purchase; the construction is
solid, great finish, and the action feels smooth to me; it's a beautiful
instrument. Also, the tone sounds warm and full, and I'm bending notes with
greater ease than I'd expected from a chromatic.

I've been reluctant to pick it up for fear that it might be an entirely
different instrument compared to the diatonic.  After tooling around with
it, trying to emulate the clarinet or soprano sax lead from Supertramp's
"Take the Long Way Home", I've concluded I was right; I might as well be
attempting to learn fluglehorn.  Worse still, it looks as though I'm going
to have to learn more music theory.  Alas, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Now for my question; is it possible that learning to play chromatic could
somehow hinder or muddle my diatonic playing...like learning to speak
Russian and Lithuanian simultaneously? Labas Vakaras!

I think I'd better put a cot and a mini-fridge in the woodshed!

GB
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