RE: [Harp-L] Irish Tunes in Relative Minor.

[Steve Shaw <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

> Hi All,
>
> I put relative minor as I can't help calling it 6th position, or minor
> 6th position, as it makes more musical sense...
>
> If there are any irish players, particularly using chord style on
> unaltered diatonic's, on this list, I was wondering whether any of them
> (you) had anything interesting to say about trying to play in the 1st
> octave using the relative minor of the hamonica's straight key. It's all
> fine playing mostly from hole 6 suck upwards, particularly tunes that
> start on the 8 blow like the Ashplant, but getting a good bend on the 3
> suck at the bottom (coming from 5 blow, and very quickly) is really
> hard....

I'm not quite sure what the problem is.  Just about all the "minor key" Irish tunes I've come across are modal in nature and can be played in either third position (Dorian mode) or fourth position (Aeolian mode).  So "The Butterfly" in E Aeolian on a G harp  for example, "Rakes of Kildare" in A Dorian on a G harp,  "Morrison's Jig" in E Dorian on a D harp, "Shores of Lough Gowna" in B Aeolian on a D harp.  If you insist on standard tuning instead of the one-note alteration of Paddy Richter you're going to get a good few hassles, especially on G harp tunes.  Of course, you could always use those big, beefy 364s or 365s and play high up.  Not for me!

> I was amused to read a recent post from Winslow about being able to be
> heard acoustically over a number of fiddles, whilst admitting he was
> miked up! I've busked acoustically in St.Malo in Brittany and with the
> wind whipping down a wide avenue where even the biggest lung'd players
> wouldn't be heard from across the street! played raucous sessions with
> dancing where the only answer was to put my finger in my ear just to be
> able to hear myself play, so I completely sympathise with any acoustic
> players, doing sessions and the like. Play on the high end.

> Joel Thomas
> theloveboxquartet@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
I often use a little battery amp in our very noisy pub sessions (probably helping to make 'em even noisier!) set to give as clean a sound as possible.  The idea is to just be heard, not to compete with everybody else.   I admit that you have to be exceptionally well-in with the other players to be able to do that.   Apart from working hard on projection and tone, another help would be to use XB40 harps which are considerably louder than most 10-hole diatonics.  You have to like them first of course...

Steve
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