[Harp-L] Song Chords

[karen mass <kdmass7@xxxxxxxxx>]

there is a huge number of arrangements that are, i believe, in the care of
the harmonicoots harmonica club in california.   my dad had the entire
harmonica ensemble output of chuck fendall, who was the "musicmeister" of
the big harp back in the seventies, and transferred them to the
harmonicoots when he died.  this collection of arrangements includes songs
from casa loma stomp and spring tonic from the twenties and thirties to
relatively new songs like eleanor rigby and overture from tommy, with
ensemble sizes running from trio to octet.

the harmonicoots can be found on youtube, and the leader, a really good guy
named bud gardner is, i believe, in actual possession of these
arrangments.  i'm not real sure how to get hold of him, but it would be
worth a try.

i believe there is another copy of this same collection extant.  this would
be chuck fendall's copy of his work.  i don't know who has it now, though
tom stryker, ex-pres of spah, may know.
these arrangements were going to be placed on the web, but it is true that
a lot of that music is still covered under copyright.  with music companies
on the rampage for every penny they can pull from the public, its not
likely this is going to change anytime soon.

what is possible, however, is the creation of new arrangements.  song
collection books, which have a number of songs gathered under some
particular concept (songs of the seventies, broadway hits, pop ballads,
etc), usually contain piano arrangements with guitar chords.  a lot of work
and a little musical knowledge can transform the songs in those books to at
least trio arrangements.   add a little creativity, and there may be
another pete pederson or dave doucette out there for the current generation
of players.

these songs too will most likely fall under copyright protection, so it
will be very difficult to place them in publicly available forums such as
the web.  that doesn't mean the occasional packet of music paper won't make
its way via snail mail to harmonica players through the "network". (that's
the anarchist in me popping out!)

hope this helps.

iowaplayer