Re: [Harp-L] Interesting new tuning

[Roger Myerson <rmyerson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks, Winslow.  It is good to be reminded by an expert teacher that we 
all start as beginners with difficulty isolating a single note, which 
indeed helps to explain why so few tunings have whole-tone intervals 
between adjacent notes.  But for an intermediate player, being unable to 
play some chromatic notes without overblowing is also frustrating.  That 
is the problem that leads us to consider pentatonic tunings such as this.

Of course, Phil, I know that it is hard work to learn a new tuning! And 
everybody on this list is already very good at playing in at least one 
tuning, and nobody here needs to learn another. Furthermore, every 
tuning has its unique advantages and disadvantages.  The five-hole 
octaves and the hole-tone intervals between adjacent notes are two 
obvious disadvantages of this new tuning.

But I tried to make clear what the advantages this new tuning are: If 
you want (1) that the blow and draw notes should together cover a major 
scale exactly, (2) that simple draw bends should add the other five 
notes of the chromatic scale, and (3) that notes should change only in 
one direction (lower to higher) as you go from left to right, then this 
tuning is actually the only way to do it.
BLOW  D  F  G  A  C  D  F  G  A  C  D  F
DRAW  E  G  A  B  D  E  G  A  B  D  E  G

With such a simple characterization by a few obviously desirable 
properties, it would be remarkable if nobody had ever considered this 
tuning before in the history of the harmonica before now.  That is why I 
posted this to harp-l, to find out if anybody had ever seen this before.

Of course, if you want to try it, you can get one from Seydel on their 
configurator!
-Roger


From: Winslow Yerxa
> This is not a harp for beginners - it presupposes very good 
> single-note technique, the ability to forswear most chords (or use 
> sophisticated and accurately targeted tongue skills to tease out the 
> thirds and fifths), and the ability to bend.
From: philharpn
> Every time somebody comes up with a new tuning-- or what they think is 
> a new tuning -- it turns out it's like learning a new instrument 
> unless you're the inventor.
> That's because the inventor knows what he had in mind when he made the 
> invention and what problems he wanted to solve.
> For the rest of us, it's a puzzlement.
> It's also the reason the standard richter and solo tuned harps keep on 
> harping. They work, they're accessible and affordable.
> But we can always use a new tuning.