Re: [Harp-L] Modes, was 3rd Position Tunes

["Dave Murray" <dlmurray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: "IronMan Mike Curtis" <ironmanmc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Technically, positions do not equal modes.  Fortunately, this won't 
> matter until you need to know :-)

I'm curious as to what you mean by that. If you exclude bent/altered notes 
and only consider the ones that are naturally on a diatonic instrument, key 
changes walk hand in hand with mode changes. Yes, people bend notes, and do 
over/underblows to get more notes, but that is technique to escape the 
limitations of diatonic instruments.

If I wanted to play a Mixolydian tune like "Old Joe Clark" in A, I'd play it 
2nd position on a D harp since I'm not an OB player. My reason for playing 
that tune 2nd position would be based entirely upon 2nd position giving me 
the Mixolydian interval. It can be played in A 5th position on an F harp at 
the low end of the harp with bends and no OBs, but I doubt that many people 
do it that way. To play it 1st position on an A harp I'd need to be an OB 
player. The line blurs because of technique, even in 2nd position you need 
to bend a note to play the song at the low end of the harp.

There is harp life without OBs, but bending is essentially essential :0). 
Positions do give you notes that are at modal intervals for the associated 
key even though you may need to bend to get them all in the octave that you 
are playing in. Not being argumentative, but all those words bring me back 
to the first sentence that I wrote,  I'm curious as to what you mean by 
that.

Peace and music,
Dave