Re: [Harp-L] First Position and "Country"

[Rick Dempster <rickdempster33@xxxxxxxxx>]

Not meaning to steer the conversation away from Irish, but I recently
stumbled upon 'Blackberry Blossom' while fooling around in 12th. I've
attempted this tune in various positions over the years, without much
success. It's the minor B section that has always stumped me. Neither 3rd,
4th nor 5th work for me. 12th, yes. There is no 4th scale not in the
melody, so that removes the need to overblow hole 6 or hit the semi-tone
band on 3 at speed, and the minor part is effectively in 3rd psition, which
works well.
RD


On 7 February 2014 08:39, Steve <moorcot@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> Well, Aongus,
> I play both ten-hole harps and tremolos, and I can assure  you that, though
> first position is often best for playing Irish tunes, there are plenty of
> tunes
> that can be played in second (and third, and fourth, and twelfth!). The
> point is that many Irish tunes are either pentatonic, hexatonic or in
> Mixolydian
> mode, so they can be played, without bends, on either blues harps or
> tremolos.
> I'll give you just a few examples: try Red-Haired Boy (which is an Amix
> tune)
> on a D harp. Similarly, lots of polkas and slides which are "in A" can
> easily be played on a D harp, no bending! I play Ger The Rigger and Bill
> Sullivan's as a set, both "in A", on a D harp. Connaughtman's Rambles
> is easy on a G harp, even though its tonic note is D. That lovely Dave
> Richardson jig, Calliope House, tonic note D, is also fine on a G harp (or
> an A
> harp if you choose to play it in E, as some fiddle players do). That's
> just a
> few. A good way of "educating" yourself to be more confident out of
> first position is to
> try out the tunes of "Dirty Old Town" and Auld Lang Syne in three different
> positions on the same harp, first, second and twelfth. You  may need Paddy
> Richter to help you on a ten-hole harp, or, alternatively, use a solo-tuned
> tremolo, but no bending is needed!
>
>
>
> Lots of "minor"
> tunes are good in third position, thinking of Morrison's Jig (on a D harp)
> and
> some in fourth, for example "The Butterfly" (on a G harp). For twelfth, try
> Cronin's Hornpipe on a D harp or Gillan's Apples on a D harp.
>  > Though no expert, my own conclusion is that first position is favoured
> in
> > Irish Trad. The harmonica is tolerated, though not really smiled upon in
> > establishment Irish Traditional Music circles. One must remember that it
> is
> > not so long ago that even the button box was not regarded as a "proper
> Irish
> > Traditional Music instrument". In competitions the harmonica class is
> mostly
> > tremolo and I don't know if any genius has come up with the knack of
> playing
> > a tremolo in second position. A chromatic is not allowed to be a
> harmonica
> > in trad music competitions - being put into the category of "other
> > instruments" - even if you swear never to touch the button.
> >
> > When I invested in my first chromatic as a teenager, I unconsciously
> > developed the bad habit of transposing every tune I tried to play to the
> key
> > of C. It is only in my old age, playing along with sessions. that I have
> > succeeded - again unconsciously  - in sort of weaning myself away from
> first
> > position.
> >
> > In Brendan Power's splendid tutor for playing Irish Traditional Music on
> the
> > Chromatic he recommends using both G and D chromatics and he even has a
> > video on YouTube demonstrating "in flight" swapping of chromatics. If a
> > virtuoso like Brendan Power will go to such lengths to stay in first
> > position, I reckon it must be an endorsement of first position as "the
> > position of choice" for Country or at least for Irish Country.
> >
> > Beannachtai
> >
> > Aongus Mac Cana
> >
>
>