[Harp-L] Re: Paddy Richter vs. Melody Maker

[MilwHa...@aol.com]

Hello, Richard.

I'm not a Melody Maker or Paddy Richter player, but, looking at your
descriptions of the tunings, the only difference I could see on paper would be
the Melody Maker raises the hole 5 draw pitch to allow the performer a choice
of 2 major scales (C major and G major on a C harp), and the Paddy Richter
doesn't.

Another point to consider is, on the Melody Maker, the 5 draw sharped may
be bent down to a regular 5 draw, so you wouldn't lose the regular 5 draw
note.

John Broecker

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[Winslow Yerxa]

The problem with bending down a raised Draw 5 is that if you're playing a reel at a fast tempo and need that note, the bend may not come out at correct pitch and is likely to stick out because of the different tone color; it may also take a lot of care to articulate it consistently with the rest of the phrase - Scottish music ain't blues and does not make the same stylistic allowances, like bending into a note or sliding around.

Also, if you're playing chords double stops, slaps, etc., which can work very well in Scottish music, you pretty much have to stick with the unbent notes. Depending on what you're playing that raised Draw 5 could either be a big help or a big discord.

One advantage of country tuning is that it gives you all three major chords in the second position key: I (Draw 1 through 4), IV (the blow chord) and V (Draw 4 through 6).

For an example of a traditional tune played on country tuning usinng all three chords along with chords and double stops, check out my recording of "La Femme du Soldat" at http://www.angelfire.com/planet/winslowyerxa/

A Scottish tune that can benefit from country tuning is The St. Kilda Wedding. (You could also use Melody Maker, and the raised Blow 3 could help with melody notes but hinder the use of chords - nearly always, there's a tradeoff of some kind)

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Wed, 9/9/09, MilwHa...@aol.com <MilwHa...@aol.com> wrote:

[Steve Shaw]

Horses for courses. I play single-note melody and I'm not overly concerned about "losing" the blow chord in the bottom octave. So Paddy Richter suits me fine. The Melody Maker tuning would mess up a considerable number of the sets I play which involve changes of position for the different tunes in the sets (medleys), so I have little use for it. It's worth pointing out that there are very few tunes that you'd play on a D harp that go down as low as the missing sixth note in the bottom octave, so for these tunes (in D Ionian, B Aeolian, G Lydian or E Dorian mainly) a standard D harp will do fine. I always go for low Ds myself, but that's me - I don't care much for playing an octave above the fiddle. It's the tunes that work best on a G harp that call most for the Paddy tuning. My view on bending to get missing notes in fast Irish/Scottish/Northumbrian dance tunes is that the game ain't worth the candle. Stick to standard D tuning or Paddy G (and A) tuning, and keep D !
and G chroms to hand for those occasional awkward tunes that have accidentals, especially the D tunes that have both Cnat and C# (Jenny's Wedding, Banish Misfortune for example). You can't bend to get a Cnat on a D harp (XB40 excepted of course) unless you're a darn sight cleverer than me (not difficult to achieve, actually!)

I do Paddify my low Ds as it happens, even though the alteration isn't often needed. It does no harm, and it means I can play Home Ruler/Kitty's Wedding. :-)
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[Clayton Gary Lehmann]

I use Melody Maker on a few tunes--Blarney Pilgrim for example lays out
really well.
Mostly tho I use Major Cross, a tuning Tony Eyers created based on the MM
tuning, which raises holes 1 and 2 as well.
Let's use C as an example. The blow chord on the bottom is now D7, and the
draw chord is Em.
So the root for the scale starts on draw 2, and all notes of the major scale
(starting with the 5th on blow 1) are produced without bends.
Blow 10 is tuned down a half step, and is the third of the major scale--key
of G!

[Wild Iris]

>From what I can tell, the Major cross tuning has the exact same notes as the Circular tuning. The difference being the blow/draw notes are reversed from the 7 hole up to the 10 hole.

Major Cross Tuning
Blow D F# A C E G C E G B
Draw E G B D F# A B D F# A
>From Tony Eyer's website: http://www.harmonicatunes.com/retuned.shtml

Circular Tuning
Blow D F# A C E G B D F# A
Draw E G B D F# A C E G B
>From the Seydel website harp configurator (Circular tuning in D):
http://www.seydel1847.de/epages/Seydel.sf/en_GB/ObjectPath=/Shops/Seydel/Products/10201(sp)&ViewAction=ViewHarpConfigurator

Message: 12
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 18:29:46 -0700
From: "Clayton Gary Lehmann" <h...@cox.net>
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[Brendan Power]

I'd like to add my two cents worth here.

Steve Shaw wrote: "It's the tunes that work best on a G harp that call most
for the Paddy tuning."

With respect to Steve, I disagree: for me, one of the best things about
Paddy Richter tuning is that it opens up the whole of the bottom octave of
the D harp for melody playing. Though it is possible to use the Low D and
play the holes from 4 on up (as Steve likes to do), I prefer the funky sound
of the bottom octave of a standard D harp. Here is a video to show what I
mean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1-BTe5oHhQ

The only note missing in the D scale is G, but that is an easy whole tone
bend on 2 draw, and it's generally a passing note in the modes associated
with a D harp. To my mind, the bend adds flavour to the tunes rather than
detracts from them.

Of course (as Steve point out) if the tune goes down to a low A or B, you do
need to use a Low D harp. And there are some tunes where the middle octave
layout is easier or more appropriate.

If not, I would almost always choose the standard D in Paddy Richter,
because of the earthy tonal qualities of that bottom octave.

Brendan Power
WEBSITE: http://www.brendan-power.com
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic

[dmat...@elkriverharmonicas.com]

While I do not for a minute question its awesomeness in any style, the best thing about Paddy Richter in my opinion, way better than what it does for fiddle tunes and whatnot is that it opens up this whole world of fourth position minor. On a C, you get an Am chord, a C chord a Dm chord, a G chord and a G7 chord, awesome chords for Am playing. You've got these awesome tongue block octaves. My opinion is for melodic purposes in fiddle tunes, you could play those same notes on a chromatic, or a low diatonic for the most part. It's true beauty is in minor keys. What what it brings to the table for 4th position minor keys is truly unique.
The feel is much more natural to me than a regular minor-key harmonica.

Dave
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--- On Fri, 9/11/09, Brendan Power <br...@brendan-power.com> wrote:

> From: Brendan Power <br...@brendan-power.com>
> Subject: [Harp-L] Re: Paddy Richter vs. Melody Maker

[Steve Shaw]

> Steve Shaw wrote: "It's the tunes that work best on a G harp that call most
> for the Paddy tuning."
>
> With respect to Steve, I disagree: for me, one of the best things about
> Paddy Richter tuning is that it opens up the whole of the bottom octave of
> the D harp for melody playing. Though it is possible to use the Low D and
> play the holes from 4 on up (as Steve likes to do), I prefer the funky sound
> of the bottom octave of a standard D harp. Here is a video to show what I
> mean:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1-BTe5oHhQ
>
> The only note missing in the D scale is G, but that is an easy whole tone
> bend on 2 draw, and it's generally a passing note in the modes associated
> with a D harp. To my mind, the bend adds flavour to the tunes rather than
> detracts from them.
>
> Of course (as Steve point out) if the tune goes down to a low A or B, you do
> need to use a Low D harp. And there are some tunes where the middle octave
> layout is easier or more appropriate.
>
> If not, I would almost always choose the standard D in Paddy Richter,
> because of the earthy tonal qualities of that bottom octave.

Thanks for that. I'm nowhere near as adept at bending to hit notes really accurately in quick tunes, so I prefer, as you correctly identify, to use a low D and play the melodies from 4-blow up. It's worth pointing out that what you say in no way invalidates the point that Paddy is exceptionally useful for tunes you'd usually grab a G harp for. In the dark days before Paddy Richter, Glenn Weiser, in his excellent and recommendable collection, was advocating the use of a 12-hole G harp for those awkward tunes that needed the missing sixth. Generally, that meant using one of those big, fat Hohner 364s and playing high. Good fun, but gimme a 10-hole Paddied harp any time! :-)

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