[Harp-L] Re: Eivets Rednow Question

Tom Skailes <tom.skailes@xxxxxxxxxxxx> · Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:48:57 +0100

Having just had a listen and played along with the first few bars, it 
seems definitely to be a 16 hole chrom in C. To my (slightly dulled) 
ear, SW starts on draw of hole 1 in the 2nd octave. The grace notes then 
make nice use of the slide. Like any other piece of music, you could 
play it on any chromatic harp in any key, the notes just probably 
wouldn't fall so easily 'under the fingers' so to speak - and of course 
a differently pitched chromatic mayn't have the range to reach the 
highest or lowest notes used.
Being an alto and tenor sax player as well, the same decisions are need 
- do I play this tune on my Bb tenor or my Eb alto? Usually I pick the 
one that suits the range of the tune better and on which the notes 
required fall most easily to my fingers - but it's a good ear and inner 
ear training exercise to play tunes on both instruments at the same 
pitch, or indeed at any other pitch - and the same benefits would apply 
on chromatic harp - improving fluidity.
The chromatic harmonica is different from most other chromatic 
instruments in being available in several closely spaced root key 
choices. In the early days of sax development you could get them in 
several other tunings including C-melody. These all died out over the 
years due to lack of demand and a need to standardise, as each 
instrument is a different size. Thankfully the size of a Chromatic harp 
does not change depending on its root key, only the size/selection of 
reeds on the reedplate, so at least the harmonica manufacturers are 
bucking this trend and still providing players with plenty of choice.
Regards
Tom
On 11/10/2011 00:52, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Re: Eivets Rednow Question
To: michael rubin<michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: harp-l<harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Message-ID:<FB570EDA-D813-4A8A-9046-22C5FA4C4FB4@xxxxxxxxxx>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
Nah, it's a C chrom, normal speed. Really, trust me on this;-).
BTW, it goes up to a high D, so that rules out either a G chrom or a C slowed down to G.
But thanks for reminding me what a beautiful performance this was!
- Slim