Re: [Harp-L] positions you can use on diatonic

[Bob Cohen <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mar 30, 2012, at 8:07 PM, The Iceman wrote:

> seriously now, folks, one need not orient himself to harmonica using "position" at all. (I actually had a ball teaching Sunny Girl harmonica without ever talking positions, so one can skip this aspect completely and still end up with an amazing result - we were talking notes).

I agree with Iceman. The term position as it applies to the harmonica is really just a short hand for identifying the root note of the key you're playing in. It is possible, and arguably desirable, to approach playing the diatonic this way. Why? That's how all the other musicians learn their instrument. We seem to have this discussion every so often and we fall into theory and non-theory, classically trained vs. ear players camps with adherents arguing which is better. Music is what it is. The playing of tones and silence in time. It has a specific objective structure and logic. Theory and short cut descriptions like positions are ways to describe what happens. Vive la difference. The only measure of the musician is whether he can play, not whether he knows that two draw on an A harp is E and that he can play the A7 chord scale between there and the six hole or whether he memorized that cross harp requires an A harp when the the guitars and keyboard are playing in E. Think of these descriptions like animal crackers. They are ifferent shapes or forms but they're all made from the same dough.

-Bob