Re: minor

--- In [email protected], "Rex" <beads594@...> wrote:
>
> I do not have a trem in minor but I do have a ten hole single reed 
in 
> minor tuning. For single note tunes the minor has no advantage that 
I 
> know of. You can play in Am on a C harp because they use the same 
> notes, just start on a different note. Same with Em on a G. The 
> advantage comes if you want to add chords to the melody. I like to 
> tongue block sometimes, playing single note melody out of the side 
of 
> my mouth and adding chords by lifting my tongue. You get major 
chords 
> with a major harp and minor chords with a minor harp. 
> I think you would have to make your own minor trem, or special 
order 
> one. I have never seen one. I only use my minor harp on a few 
tunes. 
> 
> --- In [email protected], "Jim Kielma" <jimkielma@> 
> wrote:
> >
> > Does anyone have a tremolo in a minor key and if you do, are than 
any 
> > advantages in playing some tunes? Thanks
> >
>

I think this depends on the genre of music you're playing.  In 
traditional Irish music, nearly all the "minor-key" tunes are 
actually modal, being either Dorian mode (fully playable on a 
diatonic major-key harp in third position) or Aeolian mode (fully 
playable on a diatonic major-key harp in fourth position).  The usual 
melodic/harmonic minor considerations don't really apply and you'll 
cope pretty well with nearly everything with standard solo-tuned 
major-key harps, or, alternatively, Richter-tuned harps (sorry, 
Jonathan - I know you're not keen!)that have been retuned to the 
Paddy Richter tuning. Don't stress out over all that position-talk - 
you're probably doing it already without even thinking about it.  I 
play nearly everything on Paddy diatonic harps (including Echos that 
I've retuned to Paddy), and for anything with a tricky accidental 
I'll whip out a chromatic, but not very often.  So whether a minor-
tuned harp would suit you depends on the genre of music you want to 
play, and this is something you need to investigate before you take 
the plunge and spend hard-earned credit-crunch dosh!  Find out 
whether the music you want to play is mostly pure modal or not. If 
modal, stick with standard major-key harps, which will be useful for 
everything else as well as those "minor" tunes.  I have to add the 
caveat that I play single-note melodies only, so if you want the 
chord setup that minor-key harps offer, none of this applies!

Cheers!

Steve Shaw  



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