[Harp-L] Position Question

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

Scott,
	Modes are a type of diatonic scale.  Richter tuned harmonicas are  
diatonic instruments. While positions should not be confused with  
modes, each position is associated with a particular mode because in  
that position you can (if you feel like it) play that particular mode  
in one register or another without having to bend. First Position/ 
Ionian Mode; Second Position/Mixolydian Mode; Third Position/Dorian  
Mode; FourthPosition/Aeolean Mode; Fifth Position/Phrygian Mode;  
Sixth Position/Lochrian Mode/; Twelfth Position/Lydian Mode.

	This is not to say that you will necessarily be playing in the mode  
associated with a particular position if you are playing in that  
position.  But,  each position will have some characteristics of its  
associated mode.  For example. Dorian Mode has a flat 3rd and in  
Third Position you can get a flat third without having to bend.   
Mixolydian Mode has a flat 7th and in Second Position you have a flat  
7th without having to bend.  Aeolean Mode has a flat 3d, flat 6th and  
flat 7th all of which can be played in Fourth Position without having  
to bend. Etc. So, while modes and positions are not the same thing  
and should not be confused with one another, there is some  
relationship between them.

	JP