[Harp-L] Note arrangements



Sorry for the unreadable, untitled mess this was when I tried posting before. Hopefully this time it works format wise (iPhones can be odd at odd times).



Crazy Bob writes:
"While looking at the note layout of the Tombo No. 1577 Slideless/ Valveless (HURRAH!!!) chromatic harmonica, I was initially struck by how NON-intuitive the note layout appeared to be."




No more or less so than a standard chromatic. Both give you an entire C scale in an octave unit which can then be repeated for as many octaves as is needed. The only difference is that the Tombo has each reed in its own hole, whereas the standard chromatic has two reeds per hole. This causes a slight oddity at the end of the pattern when you have a lower pitched note after a higher pitched one, but this is typical for most harmonicas with reeds in individual holes, certainly no-one familiar with tremolos (common in Japan) would find it familiar.



"Here is an alternative note layout that I devised (without too much effort, I might add). I've changed the hole numbers to start on hole 1.

Upper Row - 1B (C#)-2D (D#)-3B (F )-4D (G )-5B (A )-6D (B )
Lower Row - 1B (C )-2D (D )-3B (E )-4D (F#)-5B (G#)-6D (A#)"



I'm sure you won't be surprised to find that this has been suggested and even comercially produced for the standard chromatic before. It certainly has some advantages, especially for single note playing. But, it tends to make legato more difficult, where a more key-specific layout (like the original) works better for some keys and worse for others. These modes of limited transposition tunings can be great, but they also can be like 12TET tuning--it makes everything equally bad.



"Not only does it allow for a wider range in the same amount of space, but it provides a "piano-like" arrangement of natural notes and the sharps and flats consistently across all 12 keys. "



No, actually the reverse. The piano is a very key based layout--you have the key of C in white and then added sharps and flats at irregular intervals in black. No two keys share the same scale patterns. The standard solo tuned chromatic or the original layout of the Violin Scale Tombo is much more similar to a piano layout in that regards. A wholetone layout like you propose is more similar to things like the chromatic button accordion layout--a limited number of patterns transposable for all keys.


JR Ross


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