Re: [Harp-L] How fast can a harmonica be played compared to other instruments?

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Exactly, Zack. Terms like 16th, 32nd note, etc. are meaningless because they are 
measured relative to a variable beat.

A better term would be velocity. As in, how many notes per second?

But even that is problematic because potential velocity varies according to what 
you do to get from one note to the next and the next after that.

For instance, you could race from Blow 1 to Blow 10 very fast, hitting all the 
blow notes in between. Musical? Yes, in the right context.

Every instrument has its own set of things that can be executed incredibly fast, 
and other things that will slow it to a crawl.

How does harmonica compare to any given instrument? I'm not sure how you'd even 
devise a meaningful set of criteria. Not that's impossible or not worth doing.

Winslow

 Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
Harmonica instructor, The Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance
Resident expert, bluesharmonica.com
Columnist, harmonicasessions.com




________________________________
From: Zack <zack.pomerleau@xxxxxxxxx>
To: harri.haka@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wed, December 1, 2010 6:45:44 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] How fast can a harmonica be played compared to other 
instruments?

   32nds? 64ths? Well, what tempo are you at?