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

[Grant Walters <grant@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Planet Brendan: 

I am a fan of Slim's and must say I always used to glaze over with all the talk about 
harp tunings…

In the past….I Really felt it was a waste time to relearn various layouts on the harmonica…
My Minor Keyed tuned harps were cool for playing Fiddler on the Roof…or something….but..
confusing to switch back and forth.

Then….a few years back 
Brendan Power came to my little town here on the west coast ,
He stayed over….and sat in 
with my Band …at a well attended gig.  

I had seen his presentation the day before at a music store…
and was impressed with playing…but thought…yeah but 
this would not work with my band….

As I worked through the songs with my band the next day…
Brendan sat off to side….

With each song…he added tasty fills and backing riffs….
Not ever interfering with our more standard R&B playing.

Eventually…it became clear that Brendan was playing an entirely 
different instrument than I was….He had opened a whole new way of approaching 
these songs…

At that time…some of his harps looked like Frankenharps…
one half looked welded to another harp of a different key…in the upper register.
If he wasn't playing so tasty and adding so much to the gig…I would have called foul.
We weren't competing…just complementing.

Having the right harp for the right song…allowed him to really shine on songs that I was struggling to play
in 3rd position …he seemed to be playing in a minor key …but in first position.
Sounded like Louie Armstrong on one tune….
Having him solo after my solo was a joy…as we played entirely different patterns…
Normally…I hate two harps on stage…
In this case….It is a simply a different instrument.

Since then...Have I gone out and bought a pile of differently tuned harps?
No….not at all…I am kind of stuck in my ways…
but I can't imagine it would not help to have chromatic harps that 
were made for certain types of music…

I will say…thanks to Brendan…
I am now all for all this inventing of a new instruments…
for those who like to use both sides of their brain at the same time.
You might really find it will open new ways of expression for 
cats like Brendan….
Until you play along side him…..Which I am sure Slim has….
it is hard to understand 
what freedom he has with all the choices in his harp case.
Like another set of paint brushes…
while the previous masters…had only one set..

I've yet to master the standard diatonic…let alone my standard Chromatic…

but it is nice to know there are no limits to expression…
I'll stay old school for now…but marvel at the future.

Grant Walters
http://youtu.be/SmEJX4MPQvk










That was 
On May 17, 2014, at 11:46 PM, Brendan Power <bren@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> (Hmmm... I see those weird characters on Harp-L postings are affecting quite
> a few posts, not just mine. Punctuation marks and apostrophes seem to
> trigger all sorts of bizarre gobbledegook. I've switched to Plain Text
> instead of HTML formatting, but it still keeps happening. The Harp-L
> underlying code must be hyper-sensitive! Moderator: is this something you
> can give guidance on, or try to adjust?).
> 
> Back to the topic.... Touché, Slim! (that's supposed to be touché with an
> accent on the e, but God knows how it will come out in Harp-L!). You're
> right: I'm a masochist too, using lots of different tunings and making
> several major changes in base tunings over the years. We just enjoy
> torturing ourselves in slightly different ways :-)
> 
> You make very good arguments for sticking with the one layout, Slim (Solo on
> chromatic in your case). As it happens, I think the wind is in your
> direction. I'm working on a couple of new chromatic harmonica designs that
> will give players access to more enharmonic note choices and greater
> expression. They will work with any tuning, including Solo, for those who
> want their familiar layout but some tasty extras thrown in. Hope to announce
> them within a couple of months.
> 
> Brendan Power
> WEBSITES: www.brendan-power.com ● www.x-reed.com
> FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/BrendanPowerMusic
> YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Slim Heilpern [mailto:slim@xxxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: 17 May 2014 16:14
> To: brendan power; harp-l harp-l
> Cc: The Iceman
> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] History of harp tuning; Chrom Tuning
> 
> Touch.ANi! It's true, I'm just trying to justify my love of the tuning.
> 
> But I'm actually serious about this -- not as a reason to learn solo tuning,
> but as an added benefit. Anyway, it's certainly no more masochistic then
> learning a bunch of different tunings ;-).
> 
> I don't think any chromatic harmonica tuning gives you the natural speed and
> flexibility of an instrument like the saxophone. While true for most
> instrument layouts, some licks allow you to speak more fluently than others
> and with harmonica we need all the help we can get due to the difficulty of
> things like legato interval jumps, the need to change breath direction when
> playing legato, and such. We find that certain fingerings allow the
> instrument to fly whereas others are a struggle to play musically. A classic
> example in solo tuning would be one of Stevie Wonder's (apparently) favorite
> chromatic runs playing A Bb B C and back down again. It's all inhale and
> button pushes, so you can do it very, very fast with a bit of practice. The
> same all-draw pattern starting on different holes gives you very different
> results (they are all very cool, but only the A to C gives you the chromatic
> scale). This certainly makes the instrument harder to learn, but for your
> listeners, assuming you improvise in a variety of keys, they won't tend to
> hear the same boring licks from key to key because you won't tend to play
> them, you find different licks that work better in those keys.
> 
> You could of course get the same result with a more logical tuning by
> switching harmonicas between tunes, or forcing yourself to find different
> licks to play from tune to tune. Without meaning to offend anyone, I'll just
> say that of the harp players I've heard that switch instruments to play in
> different keys (achieving a similar result to having a logical chromatic
> layout), only the very best don't bore me by playing the same licks in every
> key. 
> 
> On the other hand, I love listening to the great jazz button accordion
> players (who use a logical tuning layout), but there's so much speed built
> into that instrument in the first place that the situation is different --
> unlike harmonica, there seems to be little that you can't do on that
> instrument.
> 
> Anyway, I'm positioning the variety-across-keys argument as a pleasant side
> effect from having learned solo tuning, not a reason to learn it in the
> first place. It would certainly be easier to learn to play in multiple keys
> on augmented, diminished, or perhaps other tunings. But if I were starting
> from scratch, knowing what I know now, I would probably still start with
> solo, because I'd want to be able to copy from the masters, most of whom
> play solo tuning. I'd want to be able to play an off-the-shelf axe. And I'd
> want to know that the things I've heard the masters play can actually be
> done on my instrument too -- without knowing that, I might not have the
> confidence to feel I could do it too with enough practice. It's the inertia
> thing, and it's questionable whether that's worth fighting against. But
> that's just me -- I love hearing others take the plunge into alternate
> tunings. I think they're brave and I wish them great success in their
> endeavor.
> 
> - Slim.
> 
> 
> On May 17, 2014, at 3:28 AM, Brendan Power wrote:
> 
>> ...
>> 
>> 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 ;-)
> ...=
> 
>