Re: [Harp-L] History of harp tuning

[Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Dan
The reason why I brought it up was not to be a wise guy. I have been using what some might call an altered tuning since the fall of 1959. So, that's almost 55 years. 
Here's the deal. What happened is that I started on chromatic first. That was spring of 56. So I was already used to having all the notes..so to speak. When I came home from Paris, my old friends back here in the U.S. wanted me to join their doo-wop group. I was to be baritone/bass voice. And at times toss in some trumpet and harmonica. 

I was mildly annoyed that no matter what I did, there was a note I couldn't get. It seemed that when I played a tune in one key, and we got to the bridge, I needed the 5th note draw to be a sharp. Seemed to be like that on almost everything I played. And didn't matter the key, as the 5th or 7th or whatever it was...wasn't there. I proceeded to retune ONE reed. The 5 draw. So that would make the harp altered..no? 

In didn't do this to all my diatonics. Just a couple. Eventually I tried other things. Raising the 9 draw. Placing a wind saver on the 5 draw. Placing wind savers all over the place. Eventually I settled on only ONE wind saver. Having a bunch of them wasn't necessary for the stuff I was doing. Now the reason why I don't believe I was doing anything new is because the Egyptians were already shaving in 4241 bc, whereas most of the men during the civil war wore beards. 6,ooo years later. In other words, there isn't too much new under under the sun. Things have a way of coming around again. I ( personally ) believe that players have been modifying MOST instruments over the years.

In the case of harmonicas, these were called 'stage tunings'. Tunings to facilitate a certain function that couldn't otherwise be gotten. At least at THAT time period. Levy wasn't around yet, lolol. The great Don Les used to call these trick tunings. A term I consider less genteel. lolol. What developed was that instead of  (for example) using both a D crossed and an A straight to play Londonderry Aire (Oh Danny Boy), I was able to do the tune on only one harp. This is why I said that I am lazier than ...fill in a name... is lazy. Ha ha.  

smo-joe     

On May 15, 2014, at 7:28 PM, Music Cal wrote:

> Smo-joe
> 
> Thank you. That is an excellent point you made about group 1a and the
> under-counting of alt tuning market by using sale figures alone.
> 
> Daniel
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, May 15, 2014 at 4:09 PM, Joseph Leone <3n037@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> On May 15, 2014, at 4:01 PM, Music Cal wrote:
>> 
>>> Steve Baker wrote:
>>> 
>>> "This would appear to refute claims that the introduction of new tuning
>>> systems will increase the appeal of the harmonica (whether diatonic or
>>> chromatic) and boost sales. Unfortunately the evidence all points the
>> other
>>> way. "
>>> 
>>> I disagree with the claim you made. Consider these two customer groups:
>>> 
>>> (1) Those that purchase or borrow a standard tuned harp. Out of
>> frustration
>>> with the pitch layout they lose the desire to play the instrument. No
>>> future sales follow.
>> 
>> I would like to add group (1)a. To wit: Those that purchase or borrow a
>> standard tuned harp. And out of, and I hesitate to call it frustration, but
>> more likely annoyance
>> with the pitch layout, they change something so that they don't loose the
>> desire to play the instrument. And yes, although future sales follow, they
>> do NOT register as
>> sales of anything other than standard tunings.
>>> 
>>> (2) Those that purchase or borrow a standard tuned harp. They accept the
>>> pitch layout and continue to play the instrument. Future sales follow.
>>> 
>>> The majority of those who would consider playing an alternate tuning
>> would
>>> be players who have already invested time and money in the playing of the
>>> harp.
>> 
>> This makes the most sense.
>> 
>>> That is, they will belong to group (2). It would be a hard sell to
>>> get a big fraction of group (2) to switch to an alternate tuning.
>> 
>> This is logical.
>> 
>>> Hence the
>>> 2% market number that you gave (I am assuming these are Seydel's numbers
>>> since Hohner and Suzuki do not offer alt tunings).
>>> 
>>> So how does a manufacturer appeal to those in group (1)?
>> 
>> Offer alternate tunings. (Such as done with 'so called' country tuning).
>> Surharges commensurate with difficulty. Like, for country...no charge.
>> Configurator tunings...noticable.
>> AND I believe that Seydel, because they have come out from behind the
>> 'curtain' only relatively recently, have, out of necessity, to (as Avis
>> says), try harder.
>> 
>> smo-joe
>> 
>>> This is not an
>>> easy question. Entrenchment of defacto standards have in the past been
>>> considerable hurdles to change. But like Brendan I think that a number of
>>> factors will change this inertia. I think the manufacturer that figures
>>> this out will reap significant rewards. In the meantime the manufacturers
>>> might benefit by offering (at extra cost as does Seydel) all of their
>> harps
>>> in alt tunings so that we can through experimentation play a significant
>>> role in helping manufacturers figure this out while enabling us to take
>> the
>>> art in new directions.
>>> 
>>> Daniel
>> 
>>