[Harp-L] Playing chromatically on a diatonic harp?

[dmf 273 <dmf273@xxxxxxxxx>]

I watch with some amusement the newly renewed discussions of the best way to
play chromatically on a diatonic harp.   Nobody has asked the obvious
question yet so I will.

1. WHY NOT JUST USE A BUTTON HARP?

I don't ask that question facetiously, but because the player should have a
clear answer to that question in mind before proceeding to question #2.   If
you can't answer that question clearly then just use a button harp.   So
let's go over some of the common answers to Question #1.

1a.  "I don't like the sound of button harps."    Fair enough.   For some
kinds of music maybe you think button harps are too sterile, too rigid, too
inflexible.   Of course the best button harp players can make you forget all
those objections, but maybe YOU are not the best button harp player and
don't want to invest the kind of time it would take to become one.

1b.  "I prefer the feel of a diatonic harp in my mouth."    That may be my
own biggest reason.    Even with the most airtight, half-valved CX-Jazz, I
still don't get that intimate connection with the airstream in my mouth that
I get with a diatonic.    I love the feeling in my mouth of control and
connectedness I get from a diatonic and no button harp I've found can quite
deliver that.

1c.  "I don't like solo tuning".   Another big reason for me.   I've had
more than my fair share of experience with several different alternate
tunings and solo chromatic tuning remains my least favorite.    Of course
there's always altered tuned button harps but then that brings me back to 1a
and 1b.

Okay, having answered Question 1 clearly,  let's move on:

2.  WHY DO YOU WANT TO PLAY CHROMATICALLY (on a buttonless harp).

1a.  "I want more more note choices available to me when I play the blues."
  That's a perfectly reasonable answer and if that's your only reason for
playing chromatically,  I'd suggest you learn to overblow.    Other than
some slight changes to the gapping on your harp,  you should be able to add
a few more choices to your blues without significant modifications to your
harp.   You can start with the #6 overblow which is often the easiest to
execute and right away you'll have a new useful note to incorporate into
your blues playing.   Your only risk will be of annoying the heck out of
your audience, your bandmates and yourself during the time it takes to
master playing your overblows in tune and with consistent speed of execution
and good tone.  That may happen quickly, or it may never happen.    But it
won't cost you anything to try.

1b. "I want to play classical music".    Seriously?   I think you'd better
reconsider that button harp. Classical music demands a consistency of tone
and fluent execution that not even Howard Levy would pretend can be achieved
with overblows.   Heck, even the best button harp players have to struggle
to be taken seriously in the classical world.

1c.  "I want to play jazz".    This may be the most common reason.   And
yet,  people don't stop to think about what they mean by "jazz".   Because
if you want to play mainstream jazz,  you really should be able to execute
with just as much consistency of tone and fluency of execution as that
demanded in classical music.    Although jazz does occassionally call for
bent notes,  mainstream jazz uses bending sparingly.   So if you want to
play mainstream jazz on a diatonic harp,  you should endeavor to learn to
play long strings of 8th notes with as little tonal variation as possible.

That said,  jazz is a popular music and popular tastes do change so that
perhaps the 21st Century listening public is willing to accept the tonal
variations that will come from playing jazz on a diatonic.

On an unmodified diatonic your musical palette will consist of unbent blow
notes, unbent draw notes, conventionally bent blow notes,  conventionally
bent draw notes,  overblows and overdraws.    That's six different methods
of note production, each with its own timbre.    Its up to the player to try
and compensate to blur the distinctions between those six different kinds of
notes as best he can.

On a valved diatonic instead of overblows and overdraws you've got valved
blow bends and valved draw bends but its still six different kinds of note
production.

Personally,  I don't care if its Howard Levy playing overblows or P.T.
Gazell playing a valved harp,  I can still hear the difference between a
single reed bend, a dual reed bend, and an unbent note.    And if its ME
playing, I can REALLY hear the difference and I don't like it!

So for me,  if I want to play chromatically on a diatonic harp (which I do),
 I want to minimize the number of different methods of note production.
 And that's where the Fourkey diatonic comes in.  (You knew I'd get to that
eventually didn't you?)

On the Fourkey it's possible to produce all but two of the notes in the
chromatic scale using UNBENT draw or blow notes.   And the remaining two
notes can be produced with conventional draw bends.    So we have now halved
the necessary number of note production methods from 6 to 3.

Again, I don't care if you're Howard Levy on overblows or P.T. Gazell on
valved diatonic,  I defy anyone to reproduce "Yardbird Suite" on a Richter
tuned diatonic harp with the smoothness and consistency of tone demonstrated
here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Thib725Ig

I say it can't be done.    I listen to that example and I don't even like
hearing the two bent notes,  but its all those UNBENT notes that make this
even somewhat possible.   If you have to throw in all those other methods of
note production the flow will suffer.   Sure you can spend a lifetime trying
to smooth out all the differences, but for me life is too short.  Why not
make things easier on yourself by reducing the number of required bends?

That said,  full disclosure requires me to reveal that I valve my Fourkeys.
  But not for chromaticity.   I do it because,  as P.T. pointed out in
another post,  valves give you more expressivitity, allowing optional bends
on otherwise rigid notes.  I call it "sponginess" and I like it!

In conclusion,  let me say that I think P.T. and his disciples are doing
marvelous things with valved Richter harps.   And Howard and his disciples
are doing mind-blowing things with overbends.   But I think they'd BOTH
sound better if they unchained themselves from Richter tuning!    To me
Richter tuning can only go so far and has already reached the point of
diminishing returns for most mere mortals who aren't Howard or P.T.    I
want to hear NEW sounds coming out of diatonic harp.   Like that amazing
Indian music clip posted by Brendan Power the other day.    You'll NEVER get
that out of a Richter harp.

And you'll certainly never be able to do THIS on a Richter harp!

April in Paris - Fourkey Marine Band 365
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UqML8KFxH8