Re: [Harp-L] RE: Positions a misnomer and harp Jargon

[Gary Lehmann <gnarlyheman@xxxxxxxxx>]

12th position, or as Howard Levy refers to it, first flat, would be the key
of F on a C harp.
So you can get all the major scale tones in the first octave with draw
bends--only the Bb is an accidental (OK, it's not since this is F, but it's
a C harp).
And that Bb is the 6OB, probably the easiest OB.
I reckon that it is also the blow bend on 10, but I don't really play that
much 8)
So it is a draw key, and the blow chord is the V.
It has the advantages of cross harp in that the main chord tones (3, 5) can
be bent for expression, but the 7ths are major.
Gary

On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 8:31 PM, Hellerman, Steven <
shellerman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> And what about this twelfth position I keep hearing about? Again: stragight
> harp or cross harp?
> <snip>
> Also, I understand the advantage that third position may sometimes present
> over second position (hitting some higher notes and/or octaves, and just
> sometimes sounding better for a minor key), so what is the advantage of
> playing in fifth or twelfth position?
>
> Best,
> SLH
>
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 18:01:22 -0400
> From: Garry <harp@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Positions a misnomer and harp Jargon
> To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
> Message-ID: <4D93A832.5070907@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> >
> > I was at a jam the other night and this player was really struggling
> > with minor key tunes.  Nice guy, so we got to talking and i tactfully
> > suggested that he might want to try playing minor material in either
> > third or fifth position (neither of which is difficult to do) instead
> > of staying in second position all the time.  This suggestion
> > confounded him and he was resistant to any further explanation.  The
> > problem seemed to be that he had no understanding of where any of the
> > scale tones were in second position, so the concept of playing in
> > another position was beyond his grasp.  As a practical matter, it's
> > harder to play completely by ear in other positions because one cannot
> > bend randomly and still stay in key like many players are able to do
> > when they play in second position.
>
> i found 3rd baffling until i saw a simple suggestion from adam gussow's
> videos,
> to just start on hole 4 instead of 2 and play like you do in second.
>  the first few
> holes work, you need to adjust for the 6/7 blow/draw switch, and that's
> enough
> to get you started.  once i "got it", i worked on figuring out the rest.
>
> but hitting someone who's probably been playing by ear with the theory is
> not likely to get him far, so i'm not surprised at your experience.
>
>
> --
> We make a living from what we get,
> but we make a life from what we give.
> - Kathy Moser
>
>