Re: [Harp-L] Chromatic - playing in all keys




On Mar 27, 2008, at 9:04 PM, G. E. Popenoe wrote:


I don't have the range problem you speak of on my Super 64. It pretty much
gets me everywhere I want to go.


Regarding being exclusively on a C chrom. That's up to the individual. Do
what works. The average listener will never know the difference.


I learned all twelve keys on the C because I learned it while in college and
did not have the bucks to by multiple instruments.

I didn't start with multiple instruments either. I had a C chomo exclusively until it went down with the Andrea Doria. Once back on Staten Island, I bought a replacement. They made a mistake and sent me home with a G. When I tried to return it, they refused. Sooo, I had to re-learn everything I was doing. That's when I discovered that one instrument was pretty much like another. Once you learned it, you were salad.
Btw, the reason I always had money was because while other boys were playing ball, I was in the city dump stripping the copper & brass out of the discarded appliances. When I was rather young, I shined shoes on the Staten Is. Fy. Then I worked in a Deli. I used to help my grandfather build homes when the mill was slow. My father was an American consul but I wasn't spoiled.


(honestly, I didn't think of it.) I started out on brass instruments as a kid.

So did I but I had a drawback. My father didn't like noise and I could never practice at home. I started on trumpet. My face has been smashed on 2 separate occasions. One was a helicopter wreck, the other the Camp Hill prison riot. My lower jaw is all pins and wires. I can't get 'posts' to lock in a plate because there's not enough good bone. So, I gave up trumpet. This left me with music arranged for Bb. Hence, I started using it.


You are pretty much stuck with one or two keys with the average brass instrument. Most
instruments for that matter. That was my frame of reference.

Same here. Your reference was C, mine was G and then Bb.

Yes, there are some keys where the button finger is busy. So, practice a
little harder on those and they'll come. It is a pattern like any other.
Otherwise be thankful that this is one of the few chromatic instruments that
you can buy in about every key!

If I go to sit in with someone, I don't want to hit clams. Ergo: a couple instruments is a 'hedge'. Since I'm not a professional (like many on this list) and people aren't waving money at me, I am not going to kill myself. I had my shot. Now the fat lady has sung.

I don't mean to sound flip about the challenges of the instrument. I just
want to get it across that it is much more accessible than many are lead to
believe.

Oh, I agree with both you and monseur 'Le Bon Vivant'...totally. If you learn it right. I didn't. Still, all in all, I have done some commercials long ago (American Motors..remember THEM?, Ralston Purina, Old Spice) Did a couple telethons, a couple Mr Roger's Neighborhoods, sat in with a few musicians (Kenny Burrell, Jimmy McGriff, Harold Betters, Kenny Blake, Manhattan Transfer, Royal Canadians, George Benson when he was unknown, and even 1 number (Frosty the Snowman) on a Ryman Christmas show with Ernest Tubb.


For several years (while in construction), I was with a band called 'Stoney Brooks'.

Today, after I played, several people came up to me and asked why they had never heard of me. Easy, I worked for an agency that was extremely paranoid about their image and as the FBI pick as 'best police organization in the U.S'., I was under a book of behavior guidelines that was as thick as the Manhattan phone book. I wasn't allowed to moonlight, I wasn't allowed to frequent liquor establishments. I wasn't allowed to hang with personages of questionable character. Soo, basically I couldn't work in the music field unless gratis. AND I used several alias' (Leon Joseph, Joe Olzeweski, and others).

To top it all off, I have had a string of tragedies that I won't bore you with right now.

P.S. I can't imagine playing harmonica without both the diatonic and the
chromatic to play. Each improves my playing on the other. Playing both
expands my expressive range.

Today I was playing both on the same tunes. smo-joe







On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 10:05 AM, <Philharpn@xxxxxxx> wrote:


In theory, we should all learn to play in all 12 keys -- especially on the
chromatic where we don't have to worry about bends and overblows. But most
of
us don't have that kind of time.


Even if we understand the layout of the chromatic harmonica and music
theory and how it relates to the harmonica and can sight read -- at half
speed or
less -- our way through some standard pop tunes, we soon realize the
limitations of the C chromatic. While in theory the C chromatic can "play"
in all
keys; it is no piano and it really can't.


I think Joe summed it up when he pointed out that using other keys of
chromatics often works better than the key the song is written in. IN
other words,
the A chromatic may not be the best harp for a song in the key of A. Joe
Leone seems to follow a Circle of 4ths (C of 5ths counterclockwise) in his
search
for the right harp.


This is another reason everyone should know the Circle of Fifths (which
was
around a long time before somebody got the bright idea to base Blues Harp
Positions on it).


If a song requires a certain chord -- say an F chord -- not a broken chord
or arpeggio, you pretty much need an F harp to get it.


Another problem with the C chromatic is the note in hole No. 1. If you
need
a note lower than C -- say a G or an A, you're out of luck and have to
move
the "music" up an octave -- which may ruin the timbre of the line.


And speaking of timbre; some songs just sound better in certain keys. And
if
that is the case, simply changing the key to "fit" the C harmonica because
"it doesn't lay right" may ruin the song. I love the key of A; sometimes
the
key of C is simply too bland.


For obvious reasons, (it's easy) most people only play in the key of C.
For
my own sanity I would rather they switch harps to play in another key if
only
to keep my mind's ear from going numb.


I don't know if the 16-hole was ever available in other than special
order.
But its lack of availability may explain why few people play a
"transposing"
16-hole chromatic in a different than key of C -- even if they want a
greater
range.


This also would be true in the 12-hole models which seem to be available
in
most keys.


And I don't pretend to know too much about the playability of the C
chromatic, but what little I know from stumbling around mine, there must
be some
hellacious keys that are virtually impossible on the C chrome because you
end up
pushing the button like a bicycle pump. And you don't have to go to the
extremes of 6 flats or 6 sharps to get there.


And I don't advocate lots of positions for the chromatic. I use only one,
sitting down. Keys are what make the world go round.
Phil Lloyd



.







In a message dated 3/26/2008 8:12:41 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, bon@xxxxxxxxxx writes:

If you wish to play in every key, one can always come to a  seminar.
I am one who basically believes in one chromatic in  C.

That said, if you wish to get certain chords, or certain patterns in
D minor, C minor, E minor, G or F Major, you should choose those
patterns. Always choose the easiest way to play something so that
you can concentrate on emotion and not technique. Change the key of
the song to facilitate using those patterns not only because
harmonicas are expensive, but also to get you more familiar with the
patterns of one instrument. This way if there are more complicated
chords or key areas in a song, or if it modulates, you still have one
instrument and you expanded your technique.


If you stop thinking of positions and start  thinking of keys by
practicing the scales and arpeggios in D minor,  C minor, E minor, G
or F Major, this will be a big first step toward  freedom.

Harmonically yours,

Robert Bonfiglio

http://www.robertbonfiglio.com







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