Re: [Harp-L] Questions re: blue notes and micro-tonality

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"John F. Potts" wrote:
<Okay, a "blue third" is a quarter tone flat. QUESTION: What is the  
<correct traditional blues tonality for a "blue seventh"?  Is it a  
<true minor 7th (half step flat) or is it played 3/4 step flat, like  
<Little Walter did by bending...

The example shows exactly why this is the wrong question.  When Little Walter did one of his long bends on the draw 5 reed, it was all about expression, not tonality. It's the movement of the pitch, not the destination, that tells the story.  And the movement is all about the way the bend feels emotionally.  Certainly Walter had a very clear idea of what the emotional content of that gesture is; I'm sure he played it in a very calculating way.  (As Tony Glover said, Walter knows how to get you off.  And how.) But there's approximately a zero chance that he thought in terms of bending the note down until it was exactly a quarter step flat.  Much more likely that he just bent it down as far as the bend would go, and took his time doing it so you could hear the reed twisting, with all the emotion that implies, before landing on the draw 4 reed, with all the release of emotion implied by that. 

I have never, in over 40 years of playing, which includes a number of sessions and conversations with well known and admired blues players, heard any of those guys discuss "blues tonality" in the terms used here.  Feel, yes.  The emotion behind a note, yes.  Whether a particular note should be played a quarter step or half step flat, never.

Regards, Richard Hunter
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp