Playing Rolls or Turns on Harmonica
Posted: Sat Oct 16, 2021 4:03 am
I've been playing Irish tunes for a long time, and often been frustrated at the inability of the harmonica (with or without slider) to play one of the most common ornaments used by most instruments in the music: the Roll, or Turn.
There are two versions, the Long Roll and the Short Roll. They both occur in the same time and give the same effect as a Triplet. Triplets are pretty easy on harmonica, especially slide harmonicas, and they're the principal ornament I and others use. They can be jaw-flick triplets, tongued triplets, or slide triplets.
The latter can go up or down, depending on how the harmonica is tuned. On my Slide-Diatonic harps the slide always rises to the next note, whereas in the reversed-slide style it always lowers to the semitone below.
Both are effective enough, but don't offer the complexity and subtlety of the Roll. It crams in 4 or 5 notes in the same time as the 3 of the triplet and, because you hear it used so much on the main traditional instruments, it gives a real authentic "Irish" feeling to the tunes.
Both types of roll include the principal note plus the note above and below. Here are examples on the note C:
LONG ROLL
CdCbC
SHORT ROLL
dCbC
On a diatonic harmonica this would require two breath changes and a hole change: impossible at the speed of an Irish reel, and not flowing enough anyway.
On either the Slide-Diatonic or slide-down harmonicas you still have one breath change and a hole change. These slow the ornament down too much, and remove its essential legato flow.
Rolls or turns are also used extensively in virtually every style of music you can name, including Classical, Jazz and most types of Folk music. So the inability of the harmonica to play them represents quite a severe limitation, in my opinion.
The only 'standard' harmonica I could envisage which would offer the ability to play rolls effectively would be a specially tuned DoubleChrom. One slide would raise the note and the other lower it. You could get the roll by playing a single breath on one hole and pressing both slider buttons rapidly in sequence.
Theoretically this would give the speed and smoothness required. Whether it's actually possible at session speed is another matter, but it's definitely worth finding out one day!
In the meantime, I've been practicing long and short rolls using my DM48 Midi Harmonica. Because it has three note alteration buttons, these can be programmed to give the correct notes for the roll, if the instrument is tuned to a Slide-Diatonic scale.
The main slide button raises the note, and the two top buttons lower it by one or two semitones. With rapid alteration of the right and left fingers, rolls are now possible! Albeit not with a true acoustic harmonica sound, but certainly with a harmonica interface.
I'm really enjoying practicing these cool ornaments and am starting to incorporate long and short rolls into my playing of Irish music. It's quite a revelation hearing how they alter the flavour of the tunes, and make it possible for one to play more like a fiddle, flute or whistle. At last I can genuinely produce exactly the same ornaments as them on at least one type of harmonica!
This is yet another example of the superiority of the Midi Harmonica over the traditional kind. The list is growing and, for me, it's making it harder and harder to choose anything except the DM48 for much of the music I like to play.
There are two versions, the Long Roll and the Short Roll. They both occur in the same time and give the same effect as a Triplet. Triplets are pretty easy on harmonica, especially slide harmonicas, and they're the principal ornament I and others use. They can be jaw-flick triplets, tongued triplets, or slide triplets.
The latter can go up or down, depending on how the harmonica is tuned. On my Slide-Diatonic harps the slide always rises to the next note, whereas in the reversed-slide style it always lowers to the semitone below.
Both are effective enough, but don't offer the complexity and subtlety of the Roll. It crams in 4 or 5 notes in the same time as the 3 of the triplet and, because you hear it used so much on the main traditional instruments, it gives a real authentic "Irish" feeling to the tunes.
Both types of roll include the principal note plus the note above and below. Here are examples on the note C:
LONG ROLL
CdCbC
SHORT ROLL
dCbC
On a diatonic harmonica this would require two breath changes and a hole change: impossible at the speed of an Irish reel, and not flowing enough anyway.
On either the Slide-Diatonic or slide-down harmonicas you still have one breath change and a hole change. These slow the ornament down too much, and remove its essential legato flow.
Rolls or turns are also used extensively in virtually every style of music you can name, including Classical, Jazz and most types of Folk music. So the inability of the harmonica to play them represents quite a severe limitation, in my opinion.
The only 'standard' harmonica I could envisage which would offer the ability to play rolls effectively would be a specially tuned DoubleChrom. One slide would raise the note and the other lower it. You could get the roll by playing a single breath on one hole and pressing both slider buttons rapidly in sequence.
Theoretically this would give the speed and smoothness required. Whether it's actually possible at session speed is another matter, but it's definitely worth finding out one day!
In the meantime, I've been practicing long and short rolls using my DM48 Midi Harmonica. Because it has three note alteration buttons, these can be programmed to give the correct notes for the roll, if the instrument is tuned to a Slide-Diatonic scale.
The main slide button raises the note, and the two top buttons lower it by one or two semitones. With rapid alteration of the right and left fingers, rolls are now possible! Albeit not with a true acoustic harmonica sound, but certainly with a harmonica interface.
I'm really enjoying practicing these cool ornaments and am starting to incorporate long and short rolls into my playing of Irish music. It's quite a revelation hearing how they alter the flavour of the tunes, and make it possible for one to play more like a fiddle, flute or whistle. At last I can genuinely produce exactly the same ornaments as them on at least one type of harmonica!
This is yet another example of the superiority of the Midi Harmonica over the traditional kind. The list is growing and, for me, it's making it harder and harder to choose anything except the DM48 for much of the music I like to play.