[Harp-L] Re: When Johnny Comes Marching Home

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

If you transpose two semitones upward from C, the new tonal center is D.Â

D Dorian is a mode of the C major scale, but it is named for its tonal center, D, not for the parent scale, C. C Dorian is a mode of the Bb major scale.

But you can't really say definitively that Johnny is in the Dorian mode, because you don't have enough scale degrees to determine that. You only have a six-note scale, which fits both the Aeolian mode (sixth mode of a major scale) and the Dorian mode (second mode). The difference between the two modes is in the quality of the sixth degree - major for the Dorian mode, minor for the Aeolian mode. And that's the scale degree that's lacking in the song.

By not locking in the mode, you leave open your positional options on the harmonica. The scale degrees involved will work without bending in either third position (Dorian mode) or in fourth position (Aeolian mode). And if you use Paddy Richter tuning, you have the home chord of fourth position built right into the blow notes in Holes 3, 4, and 5.
Â
Winslow Yerxa
President, SPAH, the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica
Producer, theÂHarmonica Collective
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, JazzschoolÂCommunity Music School


________________________________
 From: Harmonicology [Neil Ashby] <harmonicology@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> 
Cc: harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2014 6:36 AM
Subject: Re: When Johnny Comes Marching Home
 

That is correct; I caught that (minor issue) while thinking last night about transpositions (and adjusted the attached quoted message).

Next step: Why not then Chromatically Transpose from C-minor upward by 2 semi-tones? Would that be the C-Major Dorian Mode?

C-Minor (Chromatically Transposed):

CÂ GÂ CÂ CÂ CÂ DÂ Eb[D#]Â DÂ Eb[D#], C Bb[A#] Bb[A#], G Bb[A#] Bb[A#].

C-Major (Dorian Mode?):

D  A  D  D  D  E  F E  F,  D C C,  A C C.

How would that change the "character" of the tune? Same pattern of intervals should have exactly the same character.

/Neil (" http://thebuskingproject.com/busker/2025/ ")

On â6â/â9â/â2014 at 6:33 PM, "Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>The example that you label as C major is actually C minor.That's 
>why it's so tough on a C major diatonic harmonica - Eb, Ab, and Bb 
>are all notes that belong to the C minor scale, not the C major 
>scale, and hence are not built into a C major diatonic harmonica.
>
>Winslow
>
>________________________________
>
>From: Harmonicology [Neil Ashby] <harmonicology@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>To: harp-l <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> 
>Cc: Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> 
>Sent: Monday, June 9, 2014 1:40 PM
>Subject: Re: When Johnny Comes Marching Home
>
>Why don't I just figure these things out first because I had not 
>previously been transposing between G-minor and the C-Major scales; 
>I had probably played "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" from some 
>old tabs instead of the real sheet-music and the tabs were not 
>correctly transposed (which seems to be quite common).
>
>According to the actual sheet-music:
>
>[Corrected Version]
>
>In G-Minor:
>
>g d g g g a Bb a Bb, g f f, d f f.
>
>In C-Minor (Chromatically Transposed):
>
>CÂ GÂ CÂ CÂ CÂ DÂ Eb[D#]Â DÂ Eb[D#], C Bb[A#] Bb[A#], G Bb[A#] 
>Bb[A#].
>
>Yup, as Winslow has indicated, that is a rough transposition to C-



>minor.
>
>/Neil (" http://thebuskingproject.com/busker/2025/ ")