Re: [Harp-L] What Key Should the First Harp Be?

[JohnnieHarp <johnnieharp@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Warren,

Have thought about this too, over the last few months.

Last Christmas I gave my two nephews (ages 12 and 15) harmonicas. I
specifically chose a Suzuki Bluesmaster in A for both kids.  They play
quite nicely out of the box (the kids did too!) however I embossed the
reed slots to make them play as easily as possible. The stock reed
gappings worked fine so I didn't need to alter these.

I chose the Bluesmaster specifically because I think the full length
cover plates and harp profile are really well suited for learning to
play with any embouchure. Normally I prefer Golden Melodies so
selecting the Bluesmaster was a very conscious choice on my part.

I chose the key of A because being able to play the reeds at both ends
of the A harp sets the student up for playing harps in the other
frequent keys. An additional bonus is it's common use in available
recordings.

An A or Bb would be a good choice in the Bluesmaster even if not tweaked.

If the student wants to play along with something in a non-compatible
key, using Best Practice freeware to pitch shift the music to match
the harp works nicely. It also gives the student the opportunity to
play around with positions, without really realizing that one is doing
so, in terms of trying to make the harp and the music compatible,
key-wise.