Re: [Harp-L] harmonica in B

[michael rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>]

At SPAH last year, after 24 years of playing on a C chromatic I bought
a B.  It has definitely come in handy, not only for the ease of
positions but also for button related tonal effects that I could not
get in certain keys, now I can.
Michael Rubin
Michaelrubinharmonica.com

On 12/1/09, Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I do this for fiddle tunes in keys like D (plays like Eb), A (plays like Bb) G (plays like Ab) and even A (plays like F).
>
> Irish accordionists figured this out decades ago. They play a push-pull button accordion with one row of buttons tuned to B major and the other to C major. So they have a lot of smooth same-direction note sequences in the common keys of D, A, and G. But more recently players like Jackie Daly have gone to a C#-D box, because they LIKE the punchy sound they get when changing bellows direction.
>
> If anyone thinks this is cheating, look up the history of some of the instruments in the orchestra. Clarinets used to come standard not only in  Bb but in A as well, so that fingering would not be impossible in sharp keys. And trumpets and French horns used to be diatonic - you changed the key by inserting a crook - a length of curly tubing - between the mouthpiece and the body of the horn. Imagine having to change keys that way in the middle of a performance.
>
> Winslow
>
> Winslow Yerxa
>
> Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
>
> --- On Tue, 12/1/09, Robert Bonfiglio <bon@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> From: Robert Bonfiglio <bon@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] harmonica in B
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2009, 11:12 AM
>
> I have always had a couple of sets of plates that I tuned down a half step to B with silver solder on the end of each reed.  Royal pain!!!!!
>
> This allows me to play in Flat keys in order to take advantage of the blow F and Draw C and therefore I can play most all trills and turns.  I use this for the Bach B Minor Suite and the B Minor Flute Sonata plaing them both in C Minor with a B harmonica so they sound in B Minor.  The Thais Meditation I perform in Eb with a B harmonica thus keeping the orchestra in D Major.  Better than transposing all the string parts at any rate.
>
> harmonically yours,
>
> Robert Bonfiglio
> http://www.robertbonfiglio.com
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