Search found 15 matches

by oldstudent
Mon Jun 06, 2022 3:17 am
Forum: Interesting Alternative Harmonica Ideas
Topic: Pentatonic tunings
Replies: 31
Views: 128109

Re: Pentatonic tunings

This is an old thread, but it's still a good place to let people know that I've been exploring the use of fourkey pentatonic harmonicas for playing classical music. Bach's "Jesu Joy" has been played on other harmonicas, but here it is on a fourkey: https://home.uchicago.edu/~rmyerson/images/bach_jes...
by oldstudent
Sun Feb 24, 2019 11:52 pm
Forum: Interesting Alternative Harmonica Ideas
Topic: Position/key/scale tables for Newton Fourkey tuning
Replies: 5
Views: 8084

Re: Position/key/scale tables for Newton Fourkey tuning

Nice work, IaNerd and EdvinW! I agree completely that 4th position is the best on a Newton fourkey. I play in fourth position at least 70% of the time. One of the nicest things about the 4th position is that both the standard (Ionian) major scale and the natural minor scale in 4th position have five...
by oldstudent
Wed Jan 23, 2019 1:31 am
Forum: Interesting Alternative Harmonica Ideas
Topic: Pentatonic tunings
Replies: 31
Views: 128109

Re: Pentatonic tunings

Wow! Thanks for sharing this! I am not sure what kinds of music they had in mind when they designed this Magic Harp tuning, but your Soulagement recording makes me want a Magic Harp too!
by oldstudent
Mon Jan 21, 2019 6:09 am
Forum: Interesting Alternative Harmonica Ideas
Topic: Pentatonic tunings
Replies: 31
Views: 128109

Re: Pentatonic tunings

Thanks so much, Triona. Your kind words and wise advice are much appreciated!
by oldstudent
Sun Jan 20, 2019 8:21 pm
Forum: Interesting Alternative Harmonica Ideas
Topic: Pentatonic tunings
Replies: 31
Views: 128109

Re: Pentatonic tunings

Thanks Triona and Edvin for listening. It is tricky to play the same song on two different tunings. But "cramped and squeaky" may be a fair description of my bending even on a good day! As I remarked earlier, I found at SPAH that people expressed much more interest in pentabender tuning than in four...
by oldstudent
Sat Jan 19, 2019 8:56 pm
Forum: Interesting Alternative Harmonica Ideas
Topic: Pentatonic tunings
Replies: 31
Views: 128109

Re: Pentatonic tunings

As requested, I have posted a recording of Satin Doll played on two pentatonic-tuned harmonicas, first an Eb-fourkey, then a C-pentabender: https://home.uchicago.edu/~rmyerson/images/pentatonicharps.wmv On both harmonicas the draw notes form a G-major pentatonic scale, which is very nice for this tu...
by oldstudent
Thu Dec 27, 2018 8:11 pm
Forum: Interesting Alternative Harmonica Ideas
Topic: Pentatonic tunings
Replies: 31
Views: 128109

Re: Pentatonic tunings

I greatly appreciate the thoughtful comments by EdvinW (Nov 14) and Brendan (Nov 22) above, and I am sorry to be so late in responding to them. My only excuse is that the quality of the comments deserved a good thoughtful reply, which takes time! Both Brendan and EdvinW observe correctly that my pos...
by oldstudent
Wed Nov 14, 2018 3:06 am
Forum: Interesting Alternative Harmonica Ideas
Topic: Pentatonic tunings
Replies: 31
Views: 128109

Re: Pentatonic tunings

I have a friend who loves music from India and the Middle East, and he wanted a harmonica to play a favorite song which is in the E harmonic minor scale. I realized that we can design a tuning with just four holes per octave in which the blow and draw notes exactly form an E harmonic minor scale and...
by oldstudent
Tue Sep 11, 2018 6:33 am
Forum: Interesting Alternative Harmonica Ideas
Topic: Pentatonic tunings
Replies: 31
Views: 128109

Re: Pentatonic tunings

Out of interest: If you want all chromatic notes without bends, why not play a chromatic harmonica? The motivation for pentatonic tunings was to be able to play all chromatic notes with bends, but without overblowing. And the point of the discussion above is that we can have this in a little harmon...
by oldstudent
Sun Aug 19, 2018 11:54 pm
Forum: Interesting Alternative Harmonica Ideas
Topic: Pentatonic tunings
Replies: 31
Views: 128109

Re: Pentatonic tunings

Thanks for the comments, CrawfordEs, Jazmaan, and Triona! I played harmonicas with several different pentatonic tunings at SPAH, and I discussed them with some great harmonica players there. I particularly appreciated the opportunity to talk with Brendan Power. All these interactions were very helpf...