Re: [Harp-L] The advantages of BD harmonica notation

[Greg Hommert <hommertg@xxxxxxxxx>]

Tony,
That's a fine and well, and the syndication of this method is certainly
impressive. However, it negates important musical information including;
tempo, meter, note duration/ rhythm, articulation, dynamics, key (/tonal
center). Granted I only looked at the sample listed on your thread.

-- 
Best,
Greg
When I wrote my online Harmonica Course I needed a harmonica notation or
tab. I looked at various tabs, using +, -, arrows, bent arrows etc. They
confused me. I wanted a notation which could be written with a keyboard and
was unambiguous. The result was Blow Draw or BD notation.

It works like this. B indicates blow note, D indicates draw note. So 4B
means blow into hole 4, 4D means draw or breathe in hole 4. And so on. In BD
notation the major scale starting on the 4 hole blow is

4B 4D 5B 5D 6B 6D 7D 7B

Simple enough. Bends are indicated with apostrophes. A half tone bend is ',
a full tone bend is ", a tone and a half bend is "'.

Using this bending notation, the four notes available from the 3 hole draw
are 3D, 3D', 3D", 3D"'

Chords are indicated with brackets. So, a 1 hole and 2 hole draw chord is
(1D 2D), a 1 hole blow 4 hole blow octave is written (1B 4B)

That's it. This notation has become widely known in China through my
Harmonica University online course, it is also used by my Harmonica Academy
students when discussing problem (and triumphs) in our forum. It doesn't
show overblows, a drawback for some. However, for most players it is
sufficient.

I'm not sure if I invented the BD notation, I don't really care. It is a
simple and clear way to indicate harmonica notes with a keyboard, without
having to remember +, - or figuring out arrows.

Tony Eyers
Australiawww.HarmonicaAcademy.com
...everyone plays