Robert Bonfiglio wrote :
I have always had a couple of sets of plates that I tuned down a
half step to B with silver solder on the end of each reed. <snip> in
order to take advantage of the blow F and Draw C and therefore I can
play most all trills and turns.
As Winston explained :
Irish accordionists figured this out decades ago. They play a push-
pull button accordion with one row of buttons tuned to B major and
the other to C major. So they have a lot of smooth same-direction
note sequences in the common keys of D, A, and G. But more recently
players like Jackie Daly have gone to a C#-D box, because they LIKE
the punchy sound they get when changing bellows direction.
Another man to mention:
MICK KINSELLA
Harmonica (own label CD)
Mick, a Dubliner with Wexford roots, is a superb all-around
harmonica player who has mastered traditional blues style, Howard
Levy-style overblows, jazz improvisation and the Eddie Clarke
approach to Irish music on the chromatic harmonica. Mick often uses
an instrument with reed plates in B and C to play in any key, a
truly chromatic approach that mirrors that of B/C button
accordionists. His solo recording includes traditional Irish tunes
as well as original melodies, jazz, blues and Balkan music. He also
appears as a guest artist on recordings by Altan, Niamh Parsons and
others. His disc can be purchased from Claddagh's website - www.claddaghrecords.com
.
EDDIE CLARKE
Crossroads with Joe Ryan (Green Linnet cassette CSIF 1030; 1981)
Sailing into Walpole's Marsh with Seán Corcoran, Maighread Ní
Dhomhnaill and Maeve Donnelly (Green Linnet cassette CSIF 1004;
1983) - note the misprint of Eddie's name on the cassette liner.
A Dublin resident originally from Virginia, County Cavan, Clarke
pioneered the system of playing a C Hohner Chromonica from the
higher-pitched reed C sharp reed plate, which allowed him to use the
instrument's slide to play snappy triplet ornaments. On his
recordings Eddie generally played in second position and held the
slide in with his thumb, releasing it briefly for the triplets. So
he's most often playing in G# or related modal scales on a C
harmonica. In his duets with Clare fiddler Joe Ryan, he matched
Ryan's style so closely that it's hard to separate the sound of the
two instruments. Sailing into Walpole's Marsh includes a couple of
solo tracks and two duets with east Galway fiddler Maeve Donnelly.
(Sadly, Eddie died in 2004.)
& now from
http://claddaghrecords.com/WWW/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=12&products_id=3005
A beautiful 4CD collection of harmonica music with a large booklet.
'Eddie Clarke Unheard' is the result of a four year journey to
uncover rare and unheard recordings of the music and song of Eddie
Clarke.
I hope my copy will arrive for Christmas
Bíonn dhá insint ar scéal agus dhá leagan déag ar amhrán
Slán agus beannacht leat
Mhox
http://www.youtube.com/user/hokumsheik
Française
http://www.myspace.com/mox_gowland
http://www.myspace.com/newhokumsheiks
English
http://www.myspace.com/moxgowland
http://www.myspace.com/newhokumshieks
Française / English / Polski / Deutsch / Magyar
http://harmopoint.com
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