Re: [Harp-L] Reading Music, Different Key Harps (was "Re: A couple questions from a beginner")

[Elizabeth Hess <TinLizzie2009@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Nov 19, 2009, at 11:08 AM, David Payne wrote:

> I never tried to read music with diatonics, just chromatics.

Ah-HA!!  Maybe I am not a doofus for finding this challenging!  :-)



> If I were going to try to do this... there's a couple ways I can think 
> of one. One is Winslow's way. The other is:
>
> Way 2: Change the music. Like when I was in band, there was all this F 
> instruments, Bb instruments, etc. stuff, like if the music is written 
> in E, X instrument will play it in Gb or whatever it is.
> Thus, if you applied this to music, you'd take a piece of music, 
> transpose it all into C and play it like you would on a C diatonic, 
> only the output key would be different. Say you're music was in A. You 
> transpose it to C and then play it on an A harmonica. You read the 
> music in C, but the output is in A. If you have a finite number of 
> numbers you want to do, that might be a good idea. If you're playing a 
> new song every day, probably not.  

This comes the closest to how I represent music my own head.  I "think" 
of the music as if on a C harp, e.g. if I'm playing third, I'm thinking 
"d minor" even if I'm on a different harp and the output is in a 
different key.  (Winslow has clarified off-list that this is also (part 
of) what he was describing.  Hi, Winslow!)

This has worked for me so far, but mostly because I learn melodies by 
ear, plant them on my C harp while I practice them (usually 2nd 
position for major, 2nd or 3rd for minor), and then switch harps as 
needed for the circumstances.

I own a C chromatic (12-hole), goofed around with it a fair bit about a 
decade ago, but have been focusing pretty exclusively on diatonics on 
this latest attempt to learn to play harp.  Much of this is due to 
context:  Right now my circumstances are such that I travel way too 
much to try to join a band, so my best chance to play is in open jams.  
I-IV-V and diatonics are great for that.  I'd like to do more; figuring 
out where to focus my efforts while I figure out what "more" is and 
means is my current challenge.

It hadn't crossed my mind to buy chromatic harps in different keys.  
Whoa.

Elizabeth