Re: [Harp-L] Seminars at the 2014 SPAH Convention

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ken H in Ohio wrote:
<You can play "major" on a natural minor diatonic harp... the major scale is
<right there and inline with the minor scale, since the two scales share the
<same notes; they just start on different notes... so on an Anm the C major
<scale is there too.

I used an A natural minor for this very purpose when I played a session for the BBC series "Copper," as described here:
http://www.hunterharp.com/recording-copper-episode-19-an-rp255-and-a-fireball-v-does-it/#more-1260

As described in that post:
***
I had the usual issues with this session that I get almost every time Iâm working from a score and playing diatonic harmonicas. (I had to play diatonic in this case because the composer wanted a sound that was authentic for the era, which is 1864, and chromatic harmonicas were invented in the early 20th century.) Diatonic harps, by definition, donât have all the notes on them. If the composer puts the missing notes in the score, you have to hope that theyâre not exposed for long, because playing those notes with either bends or overblows will make them stick out, and the longer you hold them the worse it gets. My preferred approach in these cases is usually to switch harps, so that at any point in time Iâm playing a note thatâs already on the harp, and bending or overblowing only on passing tones, or for expression.
In this case, the piece was in C, and I used a Suzuki Manji in F for the first few notes of each section, and a Lee Oskar A Natural Minor (which has a complete C major scale in the mid-range) for the rest of the piece. It was a pretty easy switch once Iâd practiced it a few times, and those choices gave me a lot of options for shaping the sound on the scale tones that were most prominent in the piece.
***

In my opinion, the arguments against using non-standard tunings basically come down to "that's not how Little Walter did it," which is of course true, but irrelevant if you don't happen to be playing Walter's music.  (Not that Walter's music doesn't sound great with alternative tunings; try "Too Late" on a Dorian minor tuning in second position sometime.)  Top pros like Rob Paparozzi, Brendan Power, and Steve Baker all use alternative tunings that include country (draw 5 reed sharped), natural minor, and in Brendan's case, just about anything.  Anybody want to argue with their choices?

Tools are supposed to help you do things you couldn't otherwise do.  When a tool turns into a trap, change the tool.  When people rail against alternative tunings, I feel like I'm listening to screwdriver fans telling me that I should never use a hammer.  Really?

Regards, Richard Hunter



author, "Jazz Harp" (Oak Publications, NYC)
Latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://hunterharp.com
Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
Twitter: lightninrick