DATE: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 15:59:53 CST From: WY~egacy.Calvin.EDU Subject: girton's query re higher positions
I'm not sure if this got through the first time, so I'm resending it. Sorry if it's redundant.
One main use of higher positions is in jazz harp playing, in "chord running" or running chord changes. You have a lot of different cadences (chord changes), not just the I-IV-V changes of 12-bar blues. And during each chord, a jazz player will improvise using some mode of the scale belonging to that chord (i.e., starting with the root note of that chord.) So a jazz player, playing even 12-bar blues in the key of E, on an A-harp, might improvise during the IV-chord measures (A) using first position, and during the V-chord (B) measures using 3rd position. In blues it doesn't make so much difference, because the pentatonic scales of these chords overlap so much. But for the more exotic chords of jazz, the distinctive scales are used to go with each chord, and you need the higher positions. You can improvise with a chord without using all the notes of a scale; but you have to know what notes fit the chord (or are dissonant in a neat way rather than a klutzy way). Ergo Howard Levy. I'm just getting into this world, and can talk this more than I can play it; I hope I'm not screwing things up too much.
