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

[Harri Haka <harri.haka@xxxxxxxxx>]

This has been an interesting thread and seems to me that there is not 
one absolute truth. One comment off list was that if speed was important 
in harmonica, Hohner would have introduced an Indy 500 model. Anyway, 
great to read knowleadgable posts on this and other topics on harp-l.

Harri


Winslow Yerxa kirjoitti:
> 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 
> <http://jazzschool.ccom>
> Resident expert, bluesharmonica.com <http://bluesharmonica.com>
> Columnist, harmonicasessions.com <http://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?