Re: [Harp-L] what does or doesn't lie well on chromatic and other instruments

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Responding to a couple of points in Phil's post about the limitations of instruments.

No key on the chromatic harmonica is "virtually unplayable." They're all available to anyone who wants to put in the effort. Some breathing patterns are more complex and make it harder to play certain melodies and ornaments with legato, though. 

And three octaves of range is plenty - as much as most other wind instruments. I remember my arranging teacher in college (himself an accomplished trombonist) expressing open-mouthed amazement at the four-octave range of the 16-hole chromatic (he had written some arrangements for the Harmonicats).

While I agree that some things don't lie well on certain instruments, that's not always why you don't hear them played . Sometimes it's just because the players concentrate on a particular style that includes some things and not others, and tend to hew to the conventional thinking for that music . 

For instance, the reason you don't hear boogie woogie bass runs on the accordion isn't because of the tiny buttons or even because of the note layout (check out some of the Russian classical players who move around that buton board at blinding speed). I'm a beginner accordionist, but I was able to pick up my chromatic accordion and easily find and finger left-hand riffs like C -C-Eb-E-G-G-A-G and C-C-Bb-Bb-A-A-Ab-G. But most chromatic accordionists are not looking in that direction. They tend to be caught up in styles that derive from polka, or Italian stuff, or other things that don't use boogie bass lines. And jazz acordionists like Art Van Damme were playing in a more urbane style that eschewed things like boogie lines - a bit too bumptious for cocktail hour, perhaps.

As to corner swirching being in the rarefied land of professionals, that may have been true in the past. I suspect that over the next ten years ti will become much more common. When I started playing it was unheard of. Then people started writing about it (Richard Hunter was the first I know of, in the early 1980s). Now, as players in general are getting more serious about technqiue and bringing the general level of playing up, I think corner switching will creep into much wider use.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Sun, 2/22/09, Philharpn@xxxxxxx <Philharpn@xxxxxxx> wrote:
From: Philharpn@xxxxxxx <Philharpn@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] "A-Train" -- workarounds
To: solo_danswer@xxxxxxxxxxxx, jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx, harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sunday, February 22, 2009, 10:44 AM

<snip>

The chromatic seems to have more limitations than most instruments, even 
though it is considered a "chromatic" instrument. Several keys are
indeed possible 
but virtually unplayable because of complications of the range 3-4 octaves, 
layout of the notes (variations of inhale exhale button in and button out. 

<snip>

So what if there are limitations to other instruments? Ever heard a boogie 
bass run on an accordion? Real tough with the little-bitty buttons for the left

hand. Lot easier for the bass on a piano/electronic keyboard. 


Now if it takes corner switching (tongue blocking left switching to the 
tongue block on the right) to pull off a proper rendition of the A-Train, that
is 
the way to do it. But -- just a hunch guess -- I would say very few chromatic 
players can corner switch who are not members of the Musicians Union. A good 
portion of chromatic players are lip pursing, not tongue blocking. Which is 
perfectly fine. Whatever works. Whatever gets the job done.

Would a special tuned harmonica make the song easier? I don't know. Perhaps

somebody else does.

But it that would help, get a spiral tuned harp, or a Melody Maker or a Steve 
Baker Special or a Hohner Slide Harp (10 Richter tuned holes do what takes 12 
holes to do in standard solo tuned chromatic -- eliminating those double
C's 
saves space).

The Jamey Aebersold playalong books/ with CD show the tune in C, according to 
Rapid Reference available on the Aebersold web site. 

And while I respect the playing of just about anyone playing A-Train who is 
mentioned on the list, I would prefer to go back to the original: original 
recording to hear what is actually being played. A lead sheet (fake book 
arrangement) that tells me what the notes are. I've never seen any comment
about how 
poorly fakebooks render melody lines -- only that some of them get the chords 
wrong/oversimplified.

The last thing I want to do is learn a song based on somebody's cover
version 
-- which is their interpretation. It may or may not have all the notes. But 
if I go back to the original, I have at least half a chance of getting the 
melody right rather than copying someone's arrangement that differs.

This would follow the admonition of various harmonica players over the years 
to avoid imitating others, find your own voice. And if you are playing a 
carbon copy of somebody else's performance -- you are playing THAT
arrangement.

Remember the first step of learning is confusion.

Hope this helps
Phil














In a message dated 2/22/09 10:16:25 AM, solo_danswer@xxxxxxxxxxxx writes:


> 
> J Ross wrote
> 
> >
> > Not everything lies well or is really suitable to the harmonica,
> > chromatic, diatonic or other.
> >
> 
> I take it that all instruments have their inherent limitations, from the
> obvious -- e.g., you've got three octaves on a 10-hole diatonic, not
four --
> to the not-so obvious, e.g., A-Train is, by all accounts, deucedly
difficult
> to play well on the harmonica.
> 
> To what extent -- I'm asking anyone, not JR in particular -- are there
> limitations with other instruments? Are there tunes not particularly
> suitable to guitar, piano, clarinet, sax, accordion, trombone, etc., etc.
?
> 
> Not looking for in-depth analyses of other instruments (which would take
us
> out of harp-land). But I'm curious to know.
> 
> John
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> 
> 




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