[Harp-L] Reading or playing by ear.

[Michael Rubin]

Ab harp, C is in 2 blow, 5 blow and 8 blow.

Bb harp, 1 draw,4 draw, 8 draw

F harp 2 draw, 3 blow, 6 blow 9 blow

5 overblow on an A harp Eb or D#
Michael Rubin
michaelrubinharmonica.com

On Wed, Dec 21, 2016 at 9:52 AM, Michael Rubin <
michaelrubinharmonica at xxxxx> wrote:

> When I read on diatonic live I read intervals.  I decide which position I
> want to play and look at the notes as scale degrees.  For example, in the
> key of C mjinor G is the fifth note.  When I see a G I read "play a
> fifth".  In 5th position the fifth is in 3 draw, 7 draw and 10 blow single
> bend.
>
> When I have some time with a piece I work on really knowing the names on
> the notes on that particular harp.
> Michael Rubin
> michaelrubinharmonica.com
>
> On Wed, Dec 21, 2016 at 9:13 AM, Tin Lizzie <TrackHarpL at xxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>> So, here is my nuts-and-bolts question, posed two ways, about reading
>> music when playing diatonic harmonica (or a chromatic harmonica in a key
>> other than C).
>>
>> Scenario 1:
>>
>> Suppose a piece of music is in the key of C minor, and you have elected
>> to play an Ab harp in 5th position.  You look at the music, and there at
>> the beginning of each line is the treble clef, followed by three “b” (flat)
>> signs in the appropriate positions.  The first note of the song appears as
>> a dot or oval on the middle line of the staff, and it has the “natural”
>> symbol in front of it.  Quickly, now, which chamber and which breath
>> direction?
>>
>> Quickly, now, what if, instead, you were playing a Bb harp in 3rd
>> position?
>>
>> Quickly, now, what if you were playing an F harp in 2nd position?
>>
>> ---
>> Scenario 2:
>>
>> You are Howard Levy.  When you play, you visualize the piano keyboard.
>> Just now you are playing a song using an A harp.  You are about to play a
>> brilliant, jazzy, improvised phrase, and you decide to begin the phrase
>> with a 5-overblow.  Quickly, now -- the song is up-tempo -- what key (note)
>> on the piano do you see in your mind’s eye?
>>
>> ---
>> I understand that for Bb instruments (e.g. trumpet, clarinet), the
>> printed part for an ensemble piece is depicted as being in a different key
>> than the parts printed for C instruments, so that the notes come out right
>> without the musician having to transpose everything in real time.  For you
>> studio players who read music, do the people who call you in for the gig
>> provide this service for harps that are not in the key of C?
>>
>> It seems to me that when playing a harp in any key other than C, and
>> reading music while you do so, you not only have to be able to read music
>> in the conventional way, you also have to be able to transpose it, at
>> speed, so that the notes come out of your non-C harp -- and there are 11
>> choices -- at the correct pitch.  That seems like a huge addition to the
>> basic skill of reading music.  Did you just bite down and learn how to do
>> that, too?  Or am I missing something?
>>
>> Tin Lizzie (splashing in the ocean, swimmin’ in the C)
>>
>>
>