Re: [Harp-L] Spiral tuning for a beginner: which key?

[Gary Lehmann <gnarlyheman@xxxxxxxxx>]

I notice a similarity in several tunings--the bottom of Major Cross (Tony
Eyers) is circular, hole 3-6 of Melody Maker is Power Chromatic.

On Wed, Apr 22, 2015 at 3:39 PM, <christoph@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Rex, thank you for your detailed and helpful reply!
>
> I didnât realize that Melody Maker and Spiral are so closely related.
> Actually, now that I had a close look at both, I wonder (just out of
> curiosity) why Melody Maker has the last 4 holes inverted.  Is it to keep
> it more similar to Richter (and make retuning simpler)?  Or does this
> inversion offer some possibilities that Spiral does not provide? (C-E-G
> chords?)
>
> I know that some would say that I should practice playing instead of
> studying tunings, but I actually like to do both.  I find harp tunings by
> themselves a very interesting optimization problem (and a vehicle to learn
> some music theory.)  There are so many contradicting aspects!  Now that I
> learned a bit more about tunings, Iâm not so sure anymore whether I should
> go for spiral. Perhaps in the end I will choose Power Bender.
>
> So for now I will stick with my C-major-Richter and practice my bends,
> until I know whether Iâd like to optimize my harp more for bends, or more
> for melody playing / chords.
>
> Disregarding popularity, are there actually any aspects in which Richter
> is superior to Power Bender?  It looses the ungapped sequence of C-E-G
> chords in blow which I suppose is useful when playing in first position
> with tongue blocking.  Is this actually the original reason for that C-E-G
> sequence?
>
> Thanks
> Christoph
>
>