Re: [Harp-L] Diatonic/chromatic

["jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx" <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jerome writes:

"my instrument is chromatic, the rest is a question of work."

But that's the crux of this debate.  The diatonic harmonica is not chromatic, not in the same way as most other instruments would define it.  It's not a matter of effort or technique, it's a matter of mechanics.  And that can't change.

As for other musicians liking it, again, I think that's actually more a part of the ghetto effect.  Oh look, a harmonica can kind of play this stuff.  Isn't that cool.  Yeah, but it's not exactly the same as real respect.  Someone like Larry Adler was often dismissed by the isn't that cool effect until he actually played and showed that he could manage to meet the same standards as other instruments, otherwise he would have eternally been stuck in the ghetto of isn't-that-cool.  It seems to me that if you want to play chromatic music on a diatonic, the goal should be to meet the standards that exist for other instruments, not lower them down into the isn't-that-cool world.  And perhaps it can be done, but I would argue that rather than ignoring positional usage, alternate tunings, etc... These need to be a major part of the effort.

And yes, I know I've said this all before, but i guess I just like hearing myself talk (no surprise there to anyone whose been on the list a while).


JR Ross