Re: [Harp-L] Re: Chromatics in varied keys

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

Chromos are at a disadvantage when compared to other instruments. Now  
lets say a guitar has 5 fingers, 6 strings and 20 frets. That's 600  
combinations. A piano has 8 fingers, 2 thumbs, and 88 keys. Thats 880  
combinations (Not including smears..i.e. more than 2 keys hit by one  
finger). A trumpet has 4 fingers (remember the tuning slide), and 4  
(practical) embochures. That's only 36 combinations. A chromo has ONE  
mouth, 12 holes, 1 slide, BUT the breath must be switched, so what  
'Looks' like 144 combinations, is only 72. But WAIT, there's  
something dreadfully wrong here.

Now when you consider that many of these combinations CANNOT be  
acheived (i.e. hitting the 12th and 1st hole simultaneously, OR the  
11th and 2nd , OR the 10th and 3rd, or any combination of those, AND  
the improbability of hitting a blow note and draw note at the same  
time, you see the problem? Then, to top it all off, there's the  
slide. How does one hit one note slide in and another slide OUT?  
Discounting double stop, chords, triads, and splits, the combinations  
drop off to a precious few..September..November, and these few  
precious few...oops, I think I lost it there for a second.

Therefore, I think it is in the best interest of the chromo player to  
use ANY and ALL forms of guile, artifice, and shicanery to achieve  
what ever the aforementioned chromaticist can, to arrive at the  
result that comes closest to what they desire. MY particular form of  
artifice is to use chromos keyed in various keys to play in VARIOUS  
keys (not necessarily the one the chromo is home keyed IN) to arrive  
at a completely different THIRD key.

Examples: I was just playing around with a backup track. It had tunes  
of varying keys. I was using a G chromo. Here's what I had to do:
song was in C. I had to play the G chromo in F to 'meet' the tune's key
song was in Eb. I had to play in Ab
song was in F. I had to play in Bb
song was in D. I had to play in G
song was in G. Naturally, I played it in C.
song was in Dm. I had to play in Cminor

THEN, I switched to an F chromo
song was in C. I had to play in G
song was in Eb. I had to play in Bb
song was in F. Naturally, I played it in C.
song was in D. I had to play in A (tough...for me)
song was in G. I had to play in D
song was in Dm. I had to play in Bbminor

The whole exercise was to find out WHAT key was easiest, BECAUSE:  
just because you have a chromo in the same key a song is IN, doesn't  
mean that that is the easiest 'Position' to play it in. Considering  
all the fills, frills, nuances, available improv., sometimes a song  
can be played in a different key easier and even better. Sw Ga Brown  
lays out in D on a C chromo BETTER than C.

Case in point: A particular Latin tune is very fast. It is what is  
called a Chorinho. It lays out do-able in the F 'fingering' pattern.  
BUT it is written in G. It is nigh impossible to do it in G. The  
speed is too much for breath switching. (Keeping in mind that it is  
written for guitar). Sooo? what to do? Am I supposed to devote half  
my life like that guy from Argentina (Edu du Gaita) and concentrate  
on 'Perpetuoso' till my face falls off? No thank you.

I WILL take a Bb chromo and DO it in MY better key of F, while the  
band plays it in G like THEY would prefer. We BOTH wind up with the  
terminal sound coming out of all our instruments AS (guess what?).  
That's right...we're ALL in G. Case closed.

Otherwise, I (basically) agree that playing everything on a C has  
merits of it's own that are so obvious as to negate any further  
dessertation(s) along THOSE lines.

smokey-joe