[Harp-L] 12th position

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

Tim,
	That's what i thought when i first heard of these books.  But now  
that i have one, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they  
contain a wealth of information some of which would be difficult to  
readily  transpose, such as various alternative scales, and different  
arpeggios.  While these patterns unquestionably remain the same from  
key on harps in different keys, some of this stuff is much more  
easily understood in the context of a particular key of harp (at  
least for me, and I am more or less fluent in 5 positions).  I've  
always just changed harps and used the same breath patterns in order  
to change keys.  But some of the info in these books is more  
sophisticated and is better understood with key specific  
information.  My current interest has been learning arpeggios, which  
i had put off because I was too busy or lazy to sit down and figure  
them out.  With this book, i don't have to because they are all  
explained and diagrammed.  Probably not the most useful books for a  
beginner, but very, very, helpful for an intermediate or advanced  
intermediate player who is interested in expanding musical  
proficiency on the instrument.  And very inexpensive, too.
	
	JP
	






It seems strange to me that someone would buy a different book for each
key.  I know the note names would change for each different harmonica,
but part of the process should be learning the patterns and
relationships that repeat for each key rather than memorizing the
notes.  One book and a Circle of Fifths chart (-maybe-) seems like all
you would need.

-tim


John F. Potts wrote:

> Thanks.  I'd heard of these books, but didn't know if they were
> worthwhile.  Anyway, I just found out that if you order 4 of
> them on Amazon, the 4th one is free!
>
>
> > On Oct 8, 2008, at 4:48 PM, Philharpn@... wrote:
>
> Never underestimate the power of the right book. The C  Harmonica
> Book by James Major (Mel Bay, $7.95) covers evertthing you wanted
> to know about postions 1-6 and 12.