Re: [Harp-L] Diatonic/chromatic

[Bill Eborn <eborn.bill@xxxxxxxxx>]

>
>
> Sam said
> Actually... it IS a question of technique. Because if you continue to work
> on it, you get better. Exactly your point.... the harmonica won't change
> (past a certain point of tweaking), so it is the individual that can
> improve.
>
>  Jerome said
> >
> > "my instrument is chromatic, the rest is a question of work."
>

JR Ross said

> > 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.
>

I've been watching this from a distance slightly via my mobile phone as my
computers been out of action for a couple of weeks but as i spent a lot of
time working at playing chromatically on the diatonic and then switched to
the chromatic for jazz, have been involved in correspondence with Jerome at
various points, i thought i'd add my two-pennorth if that's alright.

The first thing i'd like to say is that Giant Steps is one heck of a
difficult tune to play on any instrument (I'm miles away from even thinking
about it myself).  Don't forget that Tommy Flanagan, the piano player on the
original take, famously struggled with it, after turning up for the
recording session under the impression that it was a ballad.  I once saw
Gregoire Maret and Adam Glasser trading solos on Giant Steps at the jam
after a gig Gregoire played at Pizza Express in London and i think it's got
to be one of the best things I've ever seen but when i spoke to Adam about
it later, he told me that he'd asked the pianist to spell out the changes
more clearly because he was struggling to pick them out.  In case you don't
know, Adam's one of the finest chromatic players in the UK and an excellent
pianist to boot.  So for Sam to have done as well as he did at this stage in
his playing career, is a fantastic achievement i think.

Secondly, actually I think, a high end customised diatonic harmonica, is a
radically different animal to the instruments that the old masters will have
been playing.  Lots more is possible and not only that there is precedent of
some great musicians - Levy, Charlier etc showing that it's possible

Finally, my decision to switch to playing jazz on the chromatic wasn't the
result of a reaction against the difficulty of playing harmonically on a
diatonic, it was because I preferred the sound of the chromatic to the
diatonic, or at the least the diatonics that I had access to bearing in mind
the level of customisation I could afford - it needed either time or money
and I didn't have enough of either.  I've not regretted the switch at all
but with an impending career change with the necessity of paying child
maintenance no longer an issue - I'm about to become a nomadic TEFL teacher
and hopefully much busier musician, living in Spain to start with and maybe
the proud owner of a Charlier set up Brodur, so things may well change

Thanks

Bill