[Harp-L] RE: Alternate Note Layout - Tombo 1577 Slideless/Valveless Chromatic

[Jonathan Ross <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Thank you for the response. (I'm sorry for the delay in responding:  
I've been away from home for a week without access to a computer.)"

Not a problem--my post wasn't exactly timely to the original thread  
either.

"Actually, I was unaware that anyone produces (produced?) a standard  
chromatic with the suggested note layout."

Hohner made a batch of CX-12s in an augmented/wholetone tuning (each  
blow and draw a wholetone apart).  It was for a limited number and a  
one-time deal.  Today only Seydel makes that available via their  
website as a stock(ish) model.

"I'm unsure WHY the suggested note layout would make legato more  
difficult than the Tombo 1577 note layout with that "slight oddity at  
the end of the pattern." Since I don't have a harmonica with the  
suggested layout, it becomes impossible to try both patterns and  
determine which is easier. With that giant caveat, it would seem that  
a regularly spaced pattern of intervals for all keys would actually  
make legato in all keys easier. "

It makes legato equally bad in all keys.  Which is fine depending on  
what you play.  But playing in the key of C will be easier and fit  
more naturally on the Violin Scale as is, for example.  As it is a  
solo-based tuning like the VS will lean more heavily towards certain  
keys for smoother legato, and whether this is good or bad depends on  
what you are playing.  Personally, when I was trying the wholetone/ 
augmented tuning I found the lack of a home key and the corresponding  
increase in movement and switching both slide and breath position to  
be awkward--it was the difficulty of legato due to this which  
particularly bothered me, like constantly playing in one of the less  
friendly keys.

"As for the "piano-like" note arrangement, perhaps I should have been  
clearer. The suggested note layout is NOT key-specific; it is generic  
for all keys. The piano-like arrangement was a reference to the  
interval layout. The first 3 notes of the major scale (in any key)  
are interspersed with the "sharps/flats" of those 3 notes. The scale  
then switches to the opposite row (between scale degrees 3 and 4) and  
the last 4 notes of the major scale are then interspersed with the  
"sharps/flats" for those 4 keys. This pattern applies to all keys.  
That was the only meaning for "piano-like" that I intended. "

I think I understand what you mean, just don't really see it that  
way.  If I read correctly what you mean is that each key is more  
piano like in and of itself, rather than the layout being more piano- 
like.

"Obviously, the piano is "easier to play" (in some sense) in some  
keys rather than in others, because (as you pointed out) some keys  
fall more naturally to the human hand positions than others"

I don't think I said that.  My point was that the piano is decidedly  
non-uniform.  Not being either a pianist nor a specialist on  
ergonomics I truly don't know if some keys fall more naturally than  
others (though I'd suspect this to be true--cerrtainly it's a lot  
easier for a novice to play in C than Ab, since in the former all you  
have to do is stick to the white keys).

"However, I'm not sure that the proposed note layout on a harmonica  
would prove to be more difficult than any other over time. "

In many ways a uniform layout might be significantly easier to learn  
(on both piano and harmonica).  But all tunings present trade-offs,  
good and bad (as do the various keyboard layouts that have been  
proposed over the years).

"Perhaps it is the switch from lower to upper row (or vice versa) in  
the middle of the scale that creates the (perceived?) legato problem? "

The legato problem comes from more switching top to bottom and blow/ 
draw in all keys.  A tonic-based tuning like the Violin Scale creates  
a situation where some keys are easier to play with legato than  
others.  In a uniform system effectively all the keys become equally  
hard to play legato in.  This is neither inherently good or bad, it  
just depends on how you end up using the instrument.  I would rather  
have a few very good keys and maybe switch to another pitched  
harmonica for the really bad ones than have everything equally bad,  
but others wouldn't.



JR Ross