Re: [Harp-L] Inverted notes on major scale at hole 7

[michael rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>]

Joe, I agree with your answer but I am going to put my own spin on it.

The blow notes on a C harp are a repeating pattern, C E G C E G C E G
C.  Those are the notes in a C major chord.  It does not matter which
order you play them in, it is still a C major chord.  So you could
play C E G or E G C or G C E and it is still a C major chord.  That
means any 3 consecutive blow notes make up a C major chord.  That
means if you are playing in the key of C major, focus on the blow
notes and you will be playing notes that are in the main chord the
rhythm players are playing.  You will harmonize.  This is basic
straight harp or first position theory.

In order for this to work, both 4 blow and 7 blow must be the note C.

There are 4 holes from holes 4 to 7. They are holes 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Before bending and overblowing were discovered, when RIchter decided
which notes to choose, he put 2 notes in each hole, the blow note and
the draw note.  If there are 4 holes and 2 notes per hole, that makes
a total of 8 notes in holes 4 through 7 using the original design
without bends or overblows, because 4 times 2 is 8.

The do re mi fa so la ti do scale has 8 notes in it.  The first and
the last note are both "do".  They are the same note.

I assume Richter wanted to fit an entire do re mi fa so la ti do scale
in holes 4 through 7. I also assumed he also wanted to keep 4 blow and
7 blow the note C, which is required to make the chord theory in the
2nd paragraph work.

In order to do this he had to make holes 4 5 and 6 have the lower
pitch in the blow hole and the higher pitch in the draw hole.  But to
make 7 blow be the highest pitch of the scale, the do note, or the C
note, he had to reverse which of the blow or the draw note was high
and low.  He made 7 draw low and 7 blow high.

He continued his pattern throughout the rest of the harp.  Holes 1
through 6 would therefore have the blow note be lower than the draw
note.  Holes 7 through 10 would have the draw note be lower than the
blow note.

Hope that helps.
Michael Rubin
Michaelrubinharmonica.com



On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 1:27 PM, Joe Phillips <jphillips@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> It's so that the blow/draw pattern remains the same for all scale
> intervals as you ascend up the Richter-tuned harp. Otherwise, the
> pattern would change at hole 7 when the next blow note would be D (on a
> C harp) instead of C. Also, one of the key advantages to Richter tuning,
> the accessibility of chords would be impaired. You'd no longer have the
> major chord of the key under all the blow notes.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of Rodrigo G. Reis
> Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 1:46 PM
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [Harp-L] Inverted notes on major scale at hole 7
>
> Hey guys,
>
> Just another day, a guitarrist friend of mine who just got him self a
> harmonica, asked me why on the major scale the sequence of blow-draw is
> inverted to draw-blow at hole 7 and it goes inverted until the end (hole
> 10). I didn't have any musical based answer to it.
>
> Do you guys have something on it?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Rodrigo G. Reis
>
>
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