[Harp-L] Do teachers & players tend to undervalue first position?

[David Michelsen Tuition <dmharpman@xxxxxxxxx>]

 We have seen posts that point out the useful practice of using tunes 
which are well known, to the point of being common cultural property, in 
order to help a student hone the tuning of their bent notes.

One of the problems that I come up against is that as soon as one plays 
in the key of F, for example,  there very few well known tunes that will 
use the B flat without also using the A. This is also true of most other 
modal keys  which one may try, i.e. D, A , G or E. By which I mean 
though the notes may change the same sort of situation occurs with the 
relative intervals.

It is largely down to the fact that melodies tend to walk up and down 
the scale formats of the keys concerned.

The positions as used for blues playing always tend to always use the 
flatted seventh. Looking at the modes of the C scale you come to a way 
of approaching  the positions  that root from D, E, F, G and A and their 
some of their scales that will make the process more 'doable'. The 
better you know what goes on in the key of C throughout the compass of 
your harp, the easier you will find modal transposition. As one can view 
these positions as alterations on the modes of C major, I ask are we 
often too quick to dismiss first position because it isn't a blues 
sounding sonority?

What do you think?
David


 I am talking of a Richter tuned C harp throughout these posts.

--
D Priestley AKA Dr Midnight.
England's first  harmonica Guru.


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