An alternative approach to starting new harp players
Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2023 5:52 pm
When I got interested in harmonica in 1972—at the age of 7—my parents drove me to a music store 60 miles away and I purchased an Old Standby in the key of C and a book for harmonica beginners. I was fortunate then to know an accomplished guitarist with whom I could play duets. I imagine that many people on this forum started out in a similar way.
I would guess that many of today’s USA harp beginners get an instrument online—likely a 10-hole diatonic in C—and then look to any of the stellar harp teachers on YouTube for instruction. This is probably an excellent way to start, and certainly better than how I did.
In this post I will present an alternative to the juggernaut of starting out on a 10-hole Richter-tuned instrument in the key of C. I won’t claim that my alternative is superior, but I will point out that it has some of its own advantages.
Recently an 8-year old neighbor girl told me that she was interested in learning harmonica and asked for my help. I decided that I would put some fresh thinking into her first encounter with the tin sandwich. For starters I ordered two identical harps—one for each of us—specifically 7-hole Kongsheng Baby Fats with Paddy Richter tuning in the key of A. I chose the Baby Fat model because it is well-sized for the hand of the 8-year old (as well as the 58-year old) and exceptionally comfortable to hold and play. Many songs can be played using only holes 1-7. As for the key of A, I feel that this is more ear-friendly than C. For that matter I could have gone with the lowest available Baby Fat in G. Why I did not is a long and not very interesting story. And I should also point out that at 25USD delivered the price is right.
None of these specifications so far seems particularly heretical. But my choice of starting out a youngster on Paddy Richter tuning might raise some eyebrows. First, I was not trying to put this youngster on the fast-track to playing “blues harp”. At this time she has little concept of what “the blues” is; she really just wants to play familiar melodies, and the ones with which she is the most familiar are in Ionian mode primarily and Aeolian secondarily. So that “extra” note provided by Paddy Richter’s 3 blow is often beneficial and it makes more melodies possible in the seven-hole Baby Fat.
But there is another set of benefits. It just so happens that many “campfire” or “beginner” melodies do not make use of the 7 draw note when played in a typical fashion. In other words, they do not use the seventh scale degree. Which means that—on a Paddy Richter harp--they can alternately be played in second position. Songs like Old MacDonald, Farmer in the Dell, Twinkle Little Star, Mary Had a Little Lamb, You Are My Sunshine, Row Your Boat, Baa Baa Black Sheep and many others can be played either with their tonics at 4 blow or at 2 draw on a Paddy Richter Baby Fat. This is obviously not a do-all solution; for example, Happy Birthday requires a seventh scale degree and some holes higher than seven. But I think this is a pretty good tradeoff for a first musical instrument that is so inexpensive.
I have set a little experiment in motion. When I presented this student with her first harp and taught her how to blow and draw single notes, I gave her several pages of sheet music featuring harmonica tabs in both first position and second position. I tried not to push her into favoring one over the other. For several days now she has been tooting away on her own. When she reports back with her progress, I will be interested to see her decisions on positions to play. I will report back here to let you know what happens.
I would guess that many of today’s USA harp beginners get an instrument online—likely a 10-hole diatonic in C—and then look to any of the stellar harp teachers on YouTube for instruction. This is probably an excellent way to start, and certainly better than how I did.
In this post I will present an alternative to the juggernaut of starting out on a 10-hole Richter-tuned instrument in the key of C. I won’t claim that my alternative is superior, but I will point out that it has some of its own advantages.
Recently an 8-year old neighbor girl told me that she was interested in learning harmonica and asked for my help. I decided that I would put some fresh thinking into her first encounter with the tin sandwich. For starters I ordered two identical harps—one for each of us—specifically 7-hole Kongsheng Baby Fats with Paddy Richter tuning in the key of A. I chose the Baby Fat model because it is well-sized for the hand of the 8-year old (as well as the 58-year old) and exceptionally comfortable to hold and play. Many songs can be played using only holes 1-7. As for the key of A, I feel that this is more ear-friendly than C. For that matter I could have gone with the lowest available Baby Fat in G. Why I did not is a long and not very interesting story. And I should also point out that at 25USD delivered the price is right.
None of these specifications so far seems particularly heretical. But my choice of starting out a youngster on Paddy Richter tuning might raise some eyebrows. First, I was not trying to put this youngster on the fast-track to playing “blues harp”. At this time she has little concept of what “the blues” is; she really just wants to play familiar melodies, and the ones with which she is the most familiar are in Ionian mode primarily and Aeolian secondarily. So that “extra” note provided by Paddy Richter’s 3 blow is often beneficial and it makes more melodies possible in the seven-hole Baby Fat.
But there is another set of benefits. It just so happens that many “campfire” or “beginner” melodies do not make use of the 7 draw note when played in a typical fashion. In other words, they do not use the seventh scale degree. Which means that—on a Paddy Richter harp--they can alternately be played in second position. Songs like Old MacDonald, Farmer in the Dell, Twinkle Little Star, Mary Had a Little Lamb, You Are My Sunshine, Row Your Boat, Baa Baa Black Sheep and many others can be played either with their tonics at 4 blow or at 2 draw on a Paddy Richter Baby Fat. This is obviously not a do-all solution; for example, Happy Birthday requires a seventh scale degree and some holes higher than seven. But I think this is a pretty good tradeoff for a first musical instrument that is so inexpensive.
I have set a little experiment in motion. When I presented this student with her first harp and taught her how to blow and draw single notes, I gave her several pages of sheet music featuring harmonica tabs in both first position and second position. I tried not to push her into favoring one over the other. For several days now she has been tooting away on her own. When she reports back with her progress, I will be interested to see her decisions on positions to play. I will report back here to let you know what happens.