Re: [Harp-L] flat keys

[Bob Cohen <bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sep 8, 2014, at 7:41 AM, Michael Rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Everyone keeps talking about get the flat keys in order to play with someone else.  You seem to miss lloyd's original posting:
> 
> "Assuming no other instruments existed in the world, and acoustic harp only remained,"

I guess you're right Michael. That said, there's nothing inherently superior about one key versus another except as it applies to the sound you hear in your head; personal taste; if you sing, the facility of your own voice; and the style of the song. E.g., My voice likes G - B. When I play a train rhythm, I prefer the sound of the lower harps. So while I can play it in F#, When playing unaccompanied, I generally choose harps from that same range, G - B. One other consideration: it's easier to draw bend the lower reeds in the lower keys G - C. Another thing to consider is stock harmonicas tune G as lowest and F# highest.

Other than that, go forth and make music. 

Just a bit of that dreaded theory. Sorry if I'm repeating something someone else already said but a key merely refers to the starting and end notes of a scale. And in the case of a harmonica what chords are readily available. 

So if you think of a diatonic scale as numbers rather than notes, you have 8 placeholders. E.g. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Or you could think of it as Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do.  That idea of numeric functions rather than notes is the basis for harp tab as opposed to traditional musical notation. 

To make it concrete, In key of C the notes are C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. In the key of G, which is next in the circle of 5ths, the notes are G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, G and so on. Songs can be played in any key. If you study the layout of a standard tuned harmonica, you'll see that holes 1 - 3 have one for blow one for draw chords followed by the diatonic scale and a repeat of the same triads in holes 8 - 10. 

Bob Cohen
Writer, Internet Consultant, Teacher
w: bobjcohen.com
t: #itsabobworld