Re: Introducing the Wedin Chromatic – folk music ornaments in many keys
Posted: Thu Sep 16, 2021 12:17 pm
Quick first impressions...
To start with I'm playing just the basic major and minor scales and pentatonics which Edvin showed in the Phrase Diagrams. That is, playing as if the harmonica is a diatonic. He'd call it the Wedin Diatonic, I guess!
Even in this simple configuration it has some good features:
1. Two complete major scales available as natural notes. (The only other tuning I can think of immediately which gives this ability within a 4-hole repeating octave span is Bebop Tuning, but maybe some of IaNerd's do as well).
They are a fifth apart. If you chose the base note of G on a Wedin Diatonic you'd have full G and D major scales in the one harp - very handy for Irish music, for which these are the two main keys. And of course their relative minors Em and Bm, plus the Dorian minors Am and Em, are automatically included. That covers a lot of essential keys for trad music. Plus the other modes of each scale, of which the Mixolydian is most commonly used (you have D and A Mixolydian built in).
2. In terms of playability, the main distinguishing feature of Edvin's approach (and one of his main reasons for adopting it) is the legato feel from many adjacent same-breath notes. This does give a nice smooth flow for sure, but the down side is that it can make smaller intervals like thirds further apart. I'd have to spend a lot more time with it to feel if this would be a drawback. On the chromatic version this issue can be amelriorated somewhat by using the slider.
3. Jaw-flick decorations are nice. For example in the major keys, the common 232-1 and 565-3 triplets are easy to get - which is not the case on standard diatonic harps.
More later...
To start with I'm playing just the basic major and minor scales and pentatonics which Edvin showed in the Phrase Diagrams. That is, playing as if the harmonica is a diatonic. He'd call it the Wedin Diatonic, I guess!
Even in this simple configuration it has some good features:
1. Two complete major scales available as natural notes. (The only other tuning I can think of immediately which gives this ability within a 4-hole repeating octave span is Bebop Tuning, but maybe some of IaNerd's do as well).
They are a fifth apart. If you chose the base note of G on a Wedin Diatonic you'd have full G and D major scales in the one harp - very handy for Irish music, for which these are the two main keys. And of course their relative minors Em and Bm, plus the Dorian minors Am and Em, are automatically included. That covers a lot of essential keys for trad music. Plus the other modes of each scale, of which the Mixolydian is most commonly used (you have D and A Mixolydian built in).
2. In terms of playability, the main distinguishing feature of Edvin's approach (and one of his main reasons for adopting it) is the legato feel from many adjacent same-breath notes. This does give a nice smooth flow for sure, but the down side is that it can make smaller intervals like thirds further apart. I'd have to spend a lot more time with it to feel if this would be a drawback. On the chromatic version this issue can be amelriorated somewhat by using the slider.
3. Jaw-flick decorations are nice. For example in the major keys, the common 232-1 and 565-3 triplets are easy to get - which is not the case on standard diatonic harps.
More later...