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

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

"I hate term "position". I prefer to term "key"..."

I play with a bandleader who has a Masters in Music.  He plays  
guitar, but understands diatonic harp and has shown me how to play  
all sorts of material i would never have attempted on my own.  He'll  
do stuff like write out jazz heads for me in note names so i can  
learn them, and insists that i fit harp to all sorts of material that  
he performs. He plays fluently in several different styles of music,  
is fun to perform with and is an all around good guy.  And i've  
learned  a lot from playing with him.

Anyway, he has forbidden me to speak in terms of "positions" when  
discussing which harmonica i should  use for a particular tune.  He  
considers it important that i use proper music terminology instead of  
harmonica shorthand.  He also expects me to speak in terms of note  
names rather than degrees of the scale, but he's not as strict about  
that.

Btw, Boris, don't you ever use 5th position (E minor on a C harp)?

JP