The Harmonica And Irish Traditional Music By Don Meade
The Harmonica and Irish Traditional Musicby Don Meade! 2012Donald J. MeadeAll rights reserved550 Grand Street, Apt. H6FNew York, NY 10002USA
TABLE OF CONTENTSINTRODUCTION3WHAT KIND OF HARMONICA?4TECHNICAL TIPS13MAJOR, MINOR, MODAL16ORNAMENTATION18CUSTOMIZING AND MAINTAININGCHROMATIC HARMONICAS21Appendix A: IRISH HARMONICA DISCOGRAPHY26Apendix B: MODE AND POSITION CHART32Appendix C: HARMONICA HISTORY332
INTRODUCTIONThe name “harmonica” has over the yearsbeen applied to a variety of musicalinstruments, the earliest of which wasprobably an array of musical glassescreated by Ben Franklin in 1761. The 19thcentury German-speakers who invented themouth-blown free-reed instrument nowknown as the harmonica originally called it aMundharmonika (“mouth harmonica”) todistinguish it from the Handharmonika oraccordion. English speakers have sincecalled it many things, including the mouthorgan, mouth harp, French harp, Frenchfiddle, harpoon, gob iron, tin sandwich andMississippi saxophone. “Mouth organ” is themost common name in Ireland, where“harmonica” is often used only to refer tochromatic models.influenced by the way in which song airsand dance tunes are played on instrumentswith a longer history in the country, havedeveloped their own distinctive techniquesand styles.Instrumental technique is not really the keyto playing Irish traditional music. Anyonewho has ever heard a classical violiniststiffly bow through a fiddle tune willunderstand that technical competencecannot substitute for an understanding oftraditional style. That understanding canonly be acquired by listening to andemulating good traditional players. If youwant to play Irish music, you should listen toas much of it as possible. Listen especiallyto music on the uilleann pipes, fiddle andflute, the most important vehicles for Irishtraditional music for centuries and theinstruments on which the foundations oftraditional style were built.There is a notable local mouth organtradition in south County Wexford, home tothe renowned Murphy family of Bannow, butthe instrument is quite popular throughoutIreland. It is, however, not usually regardedas highly by traditional music lovers as arethe closely related concertina and buttonaccordion. Many people still think of theharmonica as little more than a musical toy.If you can hum, lilt or whistle an Irish tune,you can learn to play it on the harmonica.The rest is just a matter of practice. Tryingto play a tune you don’t really know, even ifyou can read sheet music or follow a writtenpattern of blow and draw notes, is really alot harder than just playing by ear.The tin whistle once suffered from a similarreputation. In recent decades, however,Mary Bergin and other virtuoso players havebrought the once-humble whistle to theforefront of the Irish musical tradition. Theharmonica is overdue for a similar reevaluation. Recordings by the Murphys,Eddie Clarke and other top Irish playersprovide convincing proof that the mouthorgan is fully capable of conveying all thebeauty and subtlety of Irish traditional airsand dance tunes.You don’t need formal lessons to play Irishmusic on the harmonica. Trial and error willbe your best teacher. Once you have a tunein your head, just try to play it. The moreyou play, the more you will understandabout the structure and patterns of Irishtunes, and about the harmonica itself. Andthe more tunes you learn, the easier itbecomes to pick up new ones.Before attempting to play jigs and reels, youshould start by playing slower song airs,marches and waltzes. These tunes providean opportunity to build up your lip muscles,work on breath control and tone, andgenerally figure out how the harmonicaworks. Not to mention that a completetraditional musician must be able to playslow airs as well as fast dance tunes.How to Learn Irish MusicThe harmonica was designed to play andaccompany simple major-key Europeanmelodies. The instrument has proved to besurprisingly flexible, however, and ingeniousmusicians from China to the American southhave found novel ways to play very differentstyles of music on it. Musicians in Ireland,3
When you acquire enough proficiency tomove on to livelier tunes, keep in mind theimportance of a steady tempo. If you haveto slow down to play a difficult passage in atune, you're playing the rest of it too fast. It'sbetter to play slowly but at a consistenttempo. If you can play fast, it doesn't meanthat you have to do so all the time. No onewould try to sing every song they know asquickly as possible, but too many musicianstake that approach to dance tunes. Stick toa tempo at that lets you put someexpression into the music.or hole can sound reeds for two differentnotes. If you press or blow you get onenote, but if you draw out you get another.This in-and-out pattern imparts a naturallybouncy rhythm to the music and explainswhy single-action instruments are the freereeds of choice for Irish dance tunes.On both the button accordion andharmonica (but not on the concertina), thenotes of the scale are lined up in one row.Moreover, the tuning of chromaticharmonicas, which will be discussed below,is much like that of Irish-style two-rowbutton accordions. Because of thesesimilarities, harmonica players can oftenadapt button accordion techniques to theirinstrument.Mouth Accordion?Fast-paced and highly ornamented Irishdance music is a challenging repertoire onany instrument. Harmonica players will findthat some of the typical melodic patternsand embellishments used by fiddlers, fluteplayers and pipers are difficult to reproduceon their instrument. While no Irish tune istotally impossible to play on the harmonica,some just don't fit it very naturally.That said, it must be pointed out that it tooka long time for the button accordion to beaccepted as a valid instrument for Irishtraditional music. Only when accordionistssucceeded in approximating the rhythm andornamentation used on more traditionalinstruments did the “box” come into themainstream of Irish music. Harmonicaplayers can profit by their example.Some tunes are awkward on otherinstruments too. Flute players and pipersoften alter fiddle tunes to make themplayable on their instruments, and it is arare button accordionist who is comfortableplaying in all the keys used by fiddlers. Youshouldn't give up without a struggle, but ifre-phrasing a passage or changing the keyallows you to play music that is otherwisefiendishly difficult, you don’t have to beashamed to do so.WHAT KIND OF HARMONICA?There are several distinct types ofharmonicas. It is possible to play Irishtraditional music on all of them, and eachhas its own advantages and disadvantages.Standard Diatonic HarmonicasThe diatonic harmonica is by far the mostcommon variety. The most popular version,often referred to as a “Richter” harmonica(see appendix on harmonica history) is asmall instrument with 10 holes, each ofwhich contains a blow reed and a drawreed. Most diatonics have a single reed foreach note but some have two, which maybe tuned slightly apart in order to produce awavering “tremolo” effect or an octave apartfor a “full concert” sound. All diatonicharmonicas have reeds only for the notes ina single major (do-re-mi.) scale – they arelike pianos with no black keys.Irish harmonica players can take someinspiration from players of other free-reedinstruments used in the Irish tradition. Theharmonica has a lot in common with thebutton accordion and “Anglo-German” styleof concertina, both of which have a longhistory of use by Irish musicians. All threeare “single-action” free-reed instruments.On a double-action instrument like the pianoaccordion or “English” concertina, the samenote sounds on both the press and draw.On a single-action instrument, each button4
STANDARD 10-HOLE DIATONIC HARMONICAKey of CBlow reeds shown in upper case, draw notes in lower case; available “bent” notes in italics1Cdc#234EgGbCdf- f#g# - a#c#56EfGa7bC8910D#F#A#-BDEfGaCg#The scale used on a diatonic harmonica canstart on any one of the twelve notes used inWestern music. Standard diatonicharmonicas are available for all twelve,some in both high- and low-pitchedversions. The harmonica is classified by thenote on which the scale starts. If do is C, theharmonica is in the key of C.scheme was designed to make it possible toplay a simple two-chord accompaniment tomajor-key melodies.Some of the missing notes can be played by“bending” other notes. We’ll return to thesubject of bending below, but even with thataid, the standard 10-hole diatonic’s tuningscheme sharply limits its usefulness for Irishtraditional music.A typical ten-hole diatonic like the HohnerMarine Band has a range of three octaves,but the only complete octave starts with theblow note in hole 4. To play this scale, youfirst blow into and then draw from hole 4,then repeat this in holes 5 and 6. To finishthe scale, you must reverse breath directionin hole 7, first drawing and then blowing.The reversal of breath direction ensures thatthe next octave also starts on a blow note.Extended Range DiatonicsLonger standard diatonics give more scopefor solo melody playing, as they extend therange of notes above the gapped scale inthe first three holes. If you stick to the rightside of the longer diatonics, all the notes inthe scale are available. The same drawbends are available as on the 10-holeinstrument, and there are a few more blowbends in the highest holes.The high octave that starts with blow 7 lacksthe 7th note (ti) in the scale. The pattern ofblow and draw notes also changes in thisoctave, where the draw notes are the lowerof the two notes in each hole. In the middleoctave, do and re are blow 4 and draw 4.But in the high octave, blow 7 is do whiledraw 8 is re.As with the 10-hole diatonic, the draw notesare in different positions relative to theadjacent blow notes in each octave. This isvery apparent in the extended high range,where in order to play a C major scale on aC instrument it is necessary to skip from 10blow to 12-draw to 11-blow to play C, D andE in sequence. Hohner’s Marine Band M364and M365 are the most easily availableextended-range diatonic models. The 12hole M364 is available in C, D and G, andthe 14-hole M365 only in C and GThe standard harmonica’s low octave startswith the blow reed in hole number 1 but thescale is missing fa and la, while so is both adraw note in hole 2 and a blow note in hole3. The reason for these gaps andduplications is that the low octave tuning5
12-HOLE HOHNER M364Key of C1Cdc#23Eg4Gbf - f#5Cdg# - a#6Ef7Gac#bC89101112D#F#A#-BC-DD# - F#dEfGACbEdGg#14-HOLE HOHNER M365Key of C1234CdEgGbCdc#f -f#g# -a# c#56EfGa7bC89D#F#dEfG1011A#-B C-DaCBE121314D#-F# F#-B A#-D#dGfCaEg#“Cross Harp” and Country TuningsThe standard 10-hole diatonic harmonicacan be used to play Irish tunes, but it ismost favored by blues players, who makeup the largest segment of the harmonicaplaying public. Blues stylists, however, donot usually play in the key in which theharmonica is tuned, preferring the “crossharp” or “second position” scale, whichstarts on a note pitched a fifth higher, i.e. soinstead of do. In the C scale, so is G, whichmeans the cross-harp scale on a Charmonica starts on G. So to play the bluesin G, you use a C harmonica.when playing on a C harmonica. In additionto providing this “blue” note, cross harpshifts important notes in the scale to lowdraw reeds that can be easily “bent” tosound notes the harmonica wasn’t designedto play at all. In the low octave, a cross-harpscale starts with 2 draw (or 3 blow, which isthe same note) but you have to bend 3 drawdown a whole step to play the second noteof the scale.Bending, which will be discussed in moredetail below, is one way to play missingnotes on a diatonic harmonica, but “countrytuned” diatonics provide another solution.These are standard ten-hole diatonics onwhich one or more reeds have been retunedso that you can play a complete two-octavemajor scale in the cross-harp position.A complete cross-harp scale starts with theblow reed in hole 6. The seventh note in thisscale is half a step lower (flatter) than in themajor scale, e.g., F instead of F# (F sharp)6
SIMPLE COUNTRY TUNING – SHARPENED 5 DRAWAltered C harmonica1Cdc#2Egf- f#34GbCdac#56E f#*Gaf7bC89D#F#DEFG10A# - BACg#Irish tunes set in the “mixolydian mode”(more on modes below) use a blues-likescale with a flattened 7th interval, and forthese the cross-harp position on a regulardiatonic works well. You can also play atrue major scale in the cross-harp position ifyou start with the blow reed in hole 6, butyou need to play a blow bend in hole 9. Ona C harmonica, this is a G major scale withF# instead of F. But you can’t play a Gmajor scale in the octave that starts withdraw 2. You can bend draw 3 down tosound A, but there is no bend that will giveyou an F# in the 5 draw hole. This isbecause bends are only possible if thepitches of the two reeds in a hole are offsetby at least a whole tone, and the differencebetween E and F is only a half tone.currently available on the Seydel “bluesfavorite country” model.Another variation on standard tuning wasinvented by New Zealand harmonica aceBrendan Power. In this tuning, which hecalls “Paddy Richter,” the 3 blow reed istuned up a whole step (e.g., from G to A ona C harmonica). Low octave draw bendsare still available but it’s easier to play Irishmelodies in the cross-harp position withouthaving to bend. The draw note in hole 5 isstill unbendable, however, so you still can’treally play major-key melodies in cross-harpposition in the middle octave unless youuse the advanced “overblow” techniquepioneered in recent years among bluesstylists by genius diatonic player HowardLevy. But that’s a technique beyond thescope of this pamphlet.One way to play major melodies incrossharp position (and still be able to throwin a lot of bluesy bends) is to retune the 5draw reed, sharpening it up a half step to F#on a C instrument (see the asterisked noteabove). With a combination of bent notesand this one retuned reed, you can play atrue major scale in crossharp position in twodifferent octaves. If you start with the Gdraw reed in hole 2, you have to play a drawbend in hole 3 to sound A. If you start thescale with the G blow reed in hole 6, youhave to play a blow bend in hole 9 to soundF#. Rick Epping, the first American to winthe All-Ireland mouth organ championship,has made good use of this tuning, which isAn even more sophisticated “country” tuningis used on the Lee Oskar Melody Maker andHohner “Country-tuned” Special 20 models.This scheme raises the 5 blow reed a halfstep, as in simple country tuning, and the 3blow a whole step, as in “Paddy Richter.”But it also raises the 9 draw reed a halfstep. With these three alterations (shownwith asterisks on the chart below), you canplay a complete major scale over two wholeoctaves, starting with draw 2, without havingto bend any notes.Country-tuned harmonicas are usually7
“PADDY RICHTER” TUNINGC harmonica with sharpened 3 blow reed1Cdc#2Egf#/f34A* bCda#c#56EfGa7bC8910D#F#B/A#DEFGaCg#FULL COUNTRY (“MELODY MAKER”) TUNINGC harmonica with three altered notes123456789D#Cdc#Egf#/fA* bCda#c#E f#*GafBCdE10B/A#F#* GACg#labeled in the cross-harp key (G for a Charmonica). But as the chart above shows,a “G” Melody Maker is really just a standardC instrument with three altered notes.draw note sequence familiar to cross-harpplayers and continue to bend notes, butyou’re not stuck with the flattened seventhof the blues scale.This tuning is popular with Nashville-stylecountry musicians who want to apply bluesybends to major key melodies. Irish singerand bouzouki ace Andy Irvine has alsomade great use of Melody Makerinstruments in this way. The best exampleof applying this tuning scheme to Irishdance tunes without relying on bent notes isGalway native Paul Moran’s playing on FirstFlight, a 2002 duet recording with fiddlerFergal Scahill.Tremolo DiatonicsTremolo harmonicas have two reeds foreach note, one on the top plate and one onthe bottom. In these instruments, unlikestandard “Richter” harmonicas, blow anddraw reeds are on the same reedplate, butnot in the same holes. Each reed is isolatedin its own chamber. The top and bottomplates have an identical tuning scheme, butthe reeds on each are tuned with a slightoffset in pitch to create the wavering tremoloeffect. This design was invented by WilhelmAnton Thie in Vienna and is known as theWiener or Thie system.Country-tuned harmonicas might appeal toanyone who has played a lot of blues “harp”before attempting to tackle Irish traditionalmusic. You can stick with the blow-and-Some Wiener tremolos, including Hohner’s8
“ORIENTAL” TREMOLO DIATONIC HARMONICAKey of C1Gd23456789101112CfEaGbCdEfGabCDEFGaCbEComet models, have the two reedplatestuned an octave, rather than just slightly,apart. This is a different sort of tuning thanthat used on so-called Knittlinger-systemharmonicas like the Hohner Auto-Valve orMarine Band “full concert,” which have thetwo reedplates tuned an octave apart butstill use the Richter system of having a blowand draw reed in each hole on each plate.using equal temperament . As free-reedwizard Rick Epping has noted, thesedifferences make Oriental tremolos moresuitable than European models for melodyplaying.Oriental tremolos are also quiteinexpensive, So it's not surprising that thiskind of harmonica is the one mostcommonly played by traditional musicians inIreland, including the celebrated Murphyfamily of County Wexford and many-timeAll-Ireland champions Michael Conroy, NoelBattle and Austin Berry. At a fleadh cheoilmouth organ competition, most musicianswill be playing Oriental tremolos. Otherdiatonic instruments are allowed butchromatic players have been exiled to the“miscellaneous instruments” competition.Most European-made tremolo instruments,including Hohner’s Echo models, use thesame tuning scheme as standard Richterdiatonic harmonicas, with the first threeholes set up for chord playing. Thesemodels are also usually tuned using “just”intonation, in which the chords sound purebut the intervals between notes deviateslightly from the “equal” intonation used onmost modern instrumentsIt used to be hard to find Oriental tremolomodels in the U.S. in keys other than C butHohner now imports the Echo Celeste in all12 keys. Some Suzuki and Tombo tremolosare also made in all keys, but they are notsold in the U.S.The tuning scheme used for most tremoloinstruments made in the Far East (shownabove) is diffferent. It is similar to that ofextended-range Richter diatonic andtremolo instruments. But in place of thechordal accompaniment setup in the firstthree holes, there is a full four-hole lowoctave with no missing notes in the scale.The middle and high octaves have the sametuning pattern as Richter diatonics but areshifted one hole to the right, starting withblow 5 instead of blow 4.One interesting effect possible on tremoloharmonicas is to play on only one of the tworeeds in each hole. The player can thenswitch to playing both, as when a buttonaccordionist changes the coupler setting toget a fuller sound. You can do this bycovering either the lower or upper reedholes with your lip and playing only from thetop or bottom. Antrim tremolo ace KieranMcHugh did this on his 1980’s cassetterecording.There is a smaller pitch offset between thetwo reeds for each note on Orientaltremolos, which gives them a “drier” soundthan European models. They are also tuned9
Despite the traditional pedigree of Orientaltremolos, they don’t suit all Irish-styleplayers. Many harmonica players don’t likethe tremolo effect at all. And cross-harpstylists looking for bluesy effects will findthey can’t bend notes on a tremolo.blow and draw notes is the same in everyoctave. The first octave starts with the blowreed in hole 1 (do) and finishes with theblow reed in hole 4 (again do). But the nextoctave starts with the 5 blow reed, which isalso do. The same pattern is repeated in thenext octave, with both 8 and 9 blowsounding
The diatonic harmonica is by far the most common variety. The most popular version, often referred to as a “Richter” harmonica (see appendix on harmonica history) is a small instrument with 10 holes, each of which contains a blow reed and a draw reed. Most diatonics have a single reed for each note but some have two, which may
the harmonica. The last point of contact is the webbing of your left hand (B). Having the left, back corner of the harmonica nestled into the webbing of your left hand will also help the harmonica to not move away from you as you play. A B PLAYING THE HARMONICA HOLDING THE HARMONICA ABOUT HARMONICA NOTATION
Silat is a combative art of self-defense and survival rooted from Matay archipelago. It was traced at thé early of Langkasuka Kingdom (2nd century CE) till thé reign of Melaka (Malaysia) Sultanate era (13th century). Silat has now evolved to become part of social culture and tradition with thé appearance of a fine physical and spiritual .
May 02, 2018 · D. Program Evaluation ͟The organization has provided a description of the framework for how each program will be evaluated. The framework should include all the elements below: ͟The evaluation methods are cost-effective for the organization ͟Quantitative and qualitative data is being collected (at Basics tier, data collection must have begun)
George Winston Harmonica Tunings 6 . 3. Positions. on the harmonica are defined like this (on a standard diatonic harmonica that is. not . retuned): the 1st position is the key stamped on the harmonica, and each successive 5th interval up is the next position – for example, in a harmonica coming from the factory in the key of D
̶The leading indicator of employee engagement is based on the quality of the relationship between employee and supervisor Empower your managers! ̶Help them understand the impact on the organization ̶Share important changes, plan options, tasks, and deadlines ̶Provide key messages and talking points ̶Prepare them to answer employee questions
Dr. Sunita Bharatwal** Dr. Pawan Garga*** Abstract Customer satisfaction is derived from thè functionalities and values, a product or Service can provide. The current study aims to segregate thè dimensions of ordine Service quality and gather insights on its impact on web shopping. The trends of purchases have
On an exceptional basis, Member States may request UNESCO to provide thé candidates with access to thé platform so they can complète thé form by themselves. Thèse requests must be addressed to esd rize unesco. or by 15 A ril 2021 UNESCO will provide thé nomineewith accessto thé platform via their émail address.
An F harmonica will have a B-flat, but no B-natural, and so . forth. That means that if a song is written in the key of G, it is best played on a G harmonica. Nevertheless, the great thing about the harmonica is that the relative note layout is the same on every harmonica. On an F
