RE: [Harp-L] History of harp tuning; Chrom Tuning

["Brendan Power" <bren@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Replying to Iceman and Slim on their observations:

1. REGULAR 'LOGICAL' LAYOUTS (like white/black on piano, or Diminished on
chromatic harmonica)

Iceman says "...alternating white and black notes on piano wouldn't work....
Your hands would have no way of knowing where you were on the keyboard."
Not necessarily so. The piano is a visual instrument, so you could colour
code one set of notes (the 'white' or 'black'). For example, the white notes
could be sequenced as:

white (C), blue (E), yellow (F#), red (G#), green (A#)  ...... repeating in
each octave

That would give easy visual orientation. It's also a tactile instrument, so
you could also have Braille-like raised dots on the 'white' keys, different
locations or patterns for different notes. These are just two ways to make
this layout suitable for easy location/orientation. Add muscle memory and
the player's ear and it would soon become pretty intuitive I think.

On the chromatic harmonica, we already have hole numbers. These can be
augmented by extra location indicators on the covers. On my CX12s I drill
slight depressions at every octave (eg. holes 1, 5, 9) and fill them with
Tipp-ex to give a clear white location dot, just as on a guitar neck. These
could be added to by having a different colour dot on holes 3, 7, 11. If in
doubt, a quick glance would tell the player where he/she is. However, as
noted before, their ear will soon get accustomed to telling them where they
are. 

So, with respect, Iceman's argument against regular 'logical' tunings being
confusing is not convincing to me. There are practical ways around it.

2. SOLO IS 'LESS BORING' BECAUSE IT'S IRREGULAR

Slim makes a more interesting point by actually celebrating the fact that
you have to learn 12 patterns to play in all keys on Solo tuning, instead of
just 3 in Diminished (or even 2 is you half valve and bend to get the
necessary notes):
 
"Another angle on what I'll call the logical tunings (diminished and
augmented come to mind), is that the fewer 'fingerings' (for lack of a
better term) required to play in all keys, the less variety you'll have when
switching keys. With the illogical solo tuning, every key on the chrom is a
new world, with different strengths, different usable double-stops and
chords, different available ornaments -- that's one of the things I love
about it, it's not boring."

That's a clever riposte! Good for masochists, certainly. Taking that logic,
I wonder if there was a way to make it even more difficult for you Slim, and
therefore presumably more enjoyable ;-) 

Oh yes, there is one: Richter tuning! Every octave is different, and the
breathing pattern reverses in the top octave. Surely that is preferable to
Solo for you Slim, as you'd have to work even harder to get around it in all
keys... :-) It was used in chromatic, and still is available on the Hohner
Koch and Slide Harp. Surely you should be playing them, not the boringly
predictable Solo tuning where the pattern repeats in each octave?

Just kidding...! While I can appreciate the pleasure Slim and others take in
mastering the quirky vagaries of Solo tuning, I also think that a player
could progress much faster and be able to explore deeper into pure
musicality if there were only two or three patterns to master. Keeping the
language analogy, instead of every new key being a new dialect of its own,
with a bunch of unfamiliar words and phrases to master, there would be a
much simplified set to learn. That means one could become fluent much faster
and gain a wider vocabulary of licks and phrases quicker.

But, knowing Slim, I'd guess that he'll reply that faster, easier, simpler,
quicker are not necessarily desirable things... :-)

Brendan Power
WEBSITES: www.brendan-power.com ● www.x-reed.com
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/BrendanPowerMusic
YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic



So, you'd gain (like dimi or augmented tuned chromatics) the ability to play
more easily in all keys, but you'd lose the ability to feel which note to
start on. 

On a related note, I know one very excellent chrom player who relies on the
double C's of solo tuning to softly confirm his position on the harp before
beginning a phrase.

Another angle on what I'll call the logical tunings (diminished and
augmented come to mind), is that the fewer 'fingerings' (for lack of a
better term) required to play in all keys, the less variety you'll have when
switching keys. With the illogical solo tuning, every key on the chrom is a
new world with different strengths, different usable double-stops and
chords, different available ornaments -- that's one of the things I love
about it, it's not boring.

- Slim.


www.SlideManSlim.com=