On Sep 25, 2008, at 1:12 AM, Arnold Wiliem wrote:
That's exactly what I do!
Had a chat with a sax player with regard to improvisation and
filling up a
music. He said that he consciously knows what note that he is
hitting.
That's because that's the way horn players learn their instrument.
As a general rule, they read music. Maybe not well, but they read
nonetheless. First of all, with a few exceptions (alternate finger
patterns), most notes are reachable one way. Using something like a
'Belwyn' book, they will blow a note (usually the lowest). They will
blow this note maybe 2 dozen times as whole notes. Then 2 dozen
times as half notes, then 2 dozen times as quarter notes. Now EACH
time they blow the note, they say to themselves something like "Ok,
that's G, and I have ALL fingers OFF the keys". Other notes will
need mental adjustments depending on WHICH keys are depressed.
Then, they will add another note, and the whole process is repeated.
THEN, the notes are jumbled around, so that they are not in a
progressive or uniform pattern. After several additions of notes and
several combinations of how the notes are jumbled around, the first
simple tunes will start to appear. Over a period of time. muscle
memory takes over and the mind AND fingers are in unison. The key
word here is TIME. Time is what it takes. Some call it practice,
but, in actuality, it is repetitious time.
That's probably because Sax's players need to have the scale in
mind all the
time, not like in our case that is, we can easily grab the right
harp key.
Exactly, not only do we have different keys, we also have DRAW
notes. That makes a big difference.
Also, unlike in harmonica, sax's players are able to see their
fingerings
(or at least can feel the finger position which is on).
Exactly, harp players are virtually playing blind. BUT, we are going
by 'taste'. In other words, our MOUTH gets used to 'indexing' where
we are. Eventually, you will be able to pick up a harp all the way
from your waist, put it to your lips and hit the note you want when
you want. It all comes down to time.
In our case, IMHO
the only clue we have is the note sound... there's no clue where we
are..
Your mouth tells you where you are. I can play with a band that is
loud enough to keep me from hearing myself, and I am still hitting
the right notes. I am going by rote. Rote takes time. It's muscle
memory working in unison with your brain.
this is the thing that makes me curious on this issue.. is there
any way to
know what note being played just by looking on "physical
arrangement" (like
fingering position in sax) ?
No, even if you knew what keyed harp a player was using, the
movements are too slight to pick up from any distance. You CAN,
however, pick up what a chromatic player is dong if his button hand
movements are animated enough for you to discern them. If, however,
he doesn't show much movement, it's improbable. I happen to use VERY
extreme hand movements. Sometimes running the button off of my right
forearm.
Smoe-Joe suggested me to do what clarinet's players do.. But this
is based
on the familiarity of the note sound.. well, I'll try that practice
anyway..
Three ways to go. You don't necessarily have to read but you tell
yourself "Ok, that's HOLE #4...blow". You are training your ear and
can then adjust this ear training to OTHER keyed harps. You can also
use tab as you have already figured what hole/what breath direction.
Second is to read music and reference everything to C. You tell
yourself "Ok, that's hole #4, blow, and it's a C". You are not only
training your ear, but you now can play anything as long as you re-
write everything to C and THEN use a harp to adjust to the pitch
that you want.
Third, a player has played so long (or much) that they can play by
osmosis. In other words, notes ooze out from natural experience.
In occasion, a player can adjust IN their head. That's transposing
on the fly.
Some chromo players get 'Pitch-Locked' and have trouble playing any
chromo other than a C. They pick up another keyed chromo, and after
hitting a few notes, get completely befuddled. This doesn't make
them any lesser a player, it only means that THEIR ears are SO
atuned to pitch that they expect a certain note to be in a certain
place. And when it ISN't they get messed up.
I have no trouble switching chromos, use chromos and diatonics on
the same tunes, and feel pretty much the same as the 'Jazzman'.
After a while, it just comes. One day you'll be playing and lights
will come on. All it takes is time. :)
smo-joe
Arnold
On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 2:56 PM, jazmaan@xxxxxxxxxxx <dmf273@xxxxxxxxx
>wrote:
Not that I'm anyone to emulate, but when I'm playing I have no
conscious
idea what hole I'm at either. Maybe subconsciously I know, but
its not
something I think about while it's happening. Nor do I have any
idea what
the names of the notes are. I can learn pieces by reading, but
once I've got
a piece memorized I forget all about the names of the notes or their
corresponding holes.
I don't condone or promote my haphazard method. I envy players
who have a
running awareness of every note name and note hole they play. But
my
peabrain just doesn't work that way.
Here's an example of a piece I learned by reading sheet music, but
once it
was internalized I couldn't tell you anything about the note holes
or names:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Thib725Ig
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