[Harp-L] Re: Harp-L Digest, Vol 104, Issue 11

[Glenn Weiser <banjoandguitar100@xxxxxxxxx>]

Regarding Cara's post, she's right on all counts. The understanding of the 12 positions is essential to a throughout knowledge of the harmonica, and thinking in terms of scale degree is much more useful than thinking in note names. It's very similar to the idea of the CAGED system of scale fingerings on the guitar neck, in fact.
It's also wrong to say classical is music unlimited. It's not. The limits of classical music are twofold. Structurally, most classical music is limited by the rules of harmony, counterpoint, and compositional forms like the fugue, the rondo, the Baroque suite, and the supreme achievement, the sonata allegro form. Classical music is also limited by tonality, or the need to revolve around a tone center. When Arnold Schoenberg rebelled against tonality and created serialism, that too was limited by its own set of rules.

Glenn Weiser