[Harp-L] Spiral Tuning

[Robert Coble]

>From one Robert to another, and to Brett:


Yep, that's the way I view it also. If I am playing based on the fundamental major scale built into the harp, I think of THAT as 1st position, ergo, hole 2 draw as the tonal center corresponds to 1st position style playing. If I were more ambitious, I might go to the trouble of relabeling my harps with the fundamental music key, but I learned the Circle of Fifths and how to relate the various modes to the positions and to the harps, so it causes me no problems labeled as-is.


FWIW, here are the various "positions" (relative to the Circle of Fifths and hole 2 draw as tonal center) and "modes":


Hole 2 draw -> Hole 6 blow (first octave) -> Hole 9 draw (second octave) = 1st position (Ionian mode; major scale)


Hole 1 blow -> Hole 4 draw (first octave) -> Hole 8 blow (second octave) = 2nd position (Mixolydian mode)


Hole 3 blow -> Hole 6 draw (first octave) -> Hole 10 blow (second octave) = 3rd position (Dorian mode)


Hole 1 draw -> Hole 5 blow (first octave) -> Hole 8 draw) (second octave) = 4th position (Aeolian mode; natural minor scale)

Hole 3 draw -> Hole 7 blow (first octave) -> Hole 10 draw (second octave) = 5th position (Phrygian mode)


Hole 2 blow -> Hole 5 draw (first octave) -> Hole 9 blow) (second octave) = 6th position (Locrian mode)


Hole 4 blow -> Hole 7 draw (ONLY full octave) = 12th position (Lydian mode)


(I'm doing this right after I woke up, so please forgive any errors of omission or commission.)


I primarily play in either 1st or 4th position because that fits the majority of the tunes I play. I occasionally dabble in 3rd position when playing over a blues tune. The rest I don't use at all; YMMV.


BTW, my Circle of Fifths tool is FREE for the asking; just send me an email with the title "Circle of Fifths Tool Request" to "robert p coble at hotmail dot com". (Remove the spaces, convert "at" to "@" and convert "dot" to an actual period; I put it this way to avoid spambots if possible.) All I ask for is credit for designing it. It is two concentric wheels made out of 65 lbs. card stock, and fastened together with an 1/8" eyelet. You print out the PDF file, cut out the two wheels and then fasten them together. It has a lot of music theory encoded into it: positions, modes, scale degrees, chords and "blue" notes. It also fits into a harp case easily because it's so thin. I carry it with me in my harp case. I got used to the Circle of Fifths more by osmosis than by detailed memorization, just by referencing it when setting up for every song with a band. Now I can just glance at it to figure out whatever I need, if I can't remember it.


Regards,

Crazy Bob (formally named Robert)