[Harp-L] Fourkey (was:New tuning #1)

[Gary Lehmann]

Hi Roger!
I sold Roger what I believe to be his first FourKey, a Seydel Solist. 
He is a great guy and also was awarded a Nobel Prize (but not for his harp playing, sadly). 
JazMaan has moved on to what he calls the BarryHarris tuning, I did some repairs for him recently.
Interesting tuning—I also did a Suzuki Sirius in that tuning not too long ago.   

Sent from my iPad

> On May 1, 2023, at 2:46 PM, Roger Myerson <rmyerson at xxxxx> wrote:
> 
> Hi Jeremy:
> I have been playing fourkey tuning since 2009.  I have explored a lot of other tunings, but ultimately this has been the one for me.
> In the past few years, I have been developing arrangements of classical music pieces for a little 10-hole fourkey harmonica.  You can see them performed by a player with very limited ability (me) at
> https://home.uchicago.edu/~rmyerson/classical4key.htm
> But the best examples of what a great player can do with a fourkey harmonica are Jazmaan's videos from 2009:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Thib725Ig
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5un0JAkWoc
> I hope to see you at SPAH this summer.
> -Roger
> 
> 
>> Date: Mon, 1 May 2023 11:58:15 -0500
>> From: Gary Lehmann<gnarlyheman at xxxxx>
>> To: Jeremy Uejio<jazzju at xxxxx>
>> Cc:jross38 at xxxxx,harp-l at xxxxx
>> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] New tuning #1
>> Message-ID:<C2CFB298-246E-4630-B32C-DFBA67491752 at xxxxx>
>> Content-Type: text/plain;    charset=utf-8
>> 
>> I am down with the Fourkey.
>> Today I am working on other people?s harps but send me a number and I will gladly chat.
>> Gary
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>>> On May 1, 2023, at 11:40 AM, Jeremy Uejio<jazzju at xxxxx>  wrote:
>>> 
>>> ?
>>> Have you ever tried fourkey tuning?  It takes getting used to and doesn't have a lot of common chords.  They come in different keys as well.  I have one which is tuned:
>>> 
>>> Blow:
>>> G-Bb-C-Eb-F-G-Bb-C-Eb-F
>>> Draw:
>>> A-B-D-E-F#-A-B-D-E-F#
>>> 
>>> This means that you can play every note in the chromatic scale with just two bends (Ab and Db). It also means that you can play in 4 keys without any bends.  So, in my case, I have the keys of C, F, G, and Bb.   It has just under a 2 octave range so it's quite limited, but it turns out that it roughly is in the same range as my voice (except for the high F and F#), so if I can sing a song, then I can play it.  Haha!
>>> 
>>> I started combining my fourkey tuned harp with a circular tuned harp (in C) so that I can play some common chords and that works out pretty well.
>>> 
>>> I would be happy to discuss or demo fourkey tunings with you offline.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> jeremy
>>> 
> 
> -- 
> Roger B. Myerson, David L. Pearson Distinguished Service Professor
> Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago
> 1307 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
> http://home.uchicago.edu/~rmyerson/