An alternative approach to starting new harp players

[IaNerd]

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.

[triona]

This is a very remarkable and interesting approach, worth to think about and maybe to develop even further on.

... As for the key of A [Paddy Richter] ...

This has pros - like you already have written.
A possible con would be, that the most available instruction books and song collections for beginners are based on the use of a harmonica in C - be it a diatonic (mostly Richter) or be it a chromatic.

Anyway, since new there is one remarkable and detailed book which is based on the use of a Paddy Richter in A. I can recommend it very much. Though it is not especially aiming on absolute beginners. But it might be fine for continuing with further education:
https://www.seydel1847.de/epages/Seydel ... TaxModel=0
https://www.seydel1847.de/paddy-richter-buch
(Btw: This book even is dealing with a musical style that is very popular in the US.)

7-hole Kongsheng Baby Fats with Paddy Richter

I shall examine whether the Sedel Big Six could not be an interesting alternative to the Kongsheng Baby Fat. The Seydel Big 6 ist available out of stock in at least 6 different keys. Its standard tuning is basically Richter, condensed to 6 channels. I will check whether it would be configurable also as a Paddy Richter, and how much sense this might make.

Currently the configurated version would cause a significant surcharge. (And it is not a budget instrument anyway.) But if Seydel could be induced to adapt and support your approach to learn how to play harmonica - why should they not take a Big 6 in Paddy Richter into their standard stock programm and without configuration surcharge? (Btw: I will visit the Seydel factory and meet its decision makers and marketers in September for the next time.)

What could be an obstacle to this idea is the fact that they alredy have a basic offer of a "Kiddy Package" based on their Session Steel in "Kiddy design" (i.e a light yellow comb) and with an own new teaching booklet and video by Jürgen Just - a former employee of Seydel.
https://www.seydel1847.de/epages/Seydel ... rrency=USD


A short explanation why I would prefer a Seydel Big 6 to the Kongsheng:

* People - and especially parents - in Germany and Europe prefer German products to Chinese ones.
* Seydel is known better and cherrished more in Europe than Kongsheng.
* Seydel is better available in Europe than Kongsheng. (In fact, it can be obtained in local shops as well and not only by online shopping.)
* And the Big 6 is a very fine instrument anyway. I play it myself since long. (I guess you know and propably even play it too.) But this aspect of decision respective the following recommendation may be a question of taste and familarization at least.

... 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. ...

But I would be interested in this story. If you do not think it is suitable for a post in the forum, maybe you can send it to me as PM?

... 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 choice of songs understandably is quite US-centered.
Most well known children's songs in Germany and mostly all over Europe usually are set in C, G or F. Would not they have to be transposed into A (or maybe even E, concerning the second position) when using a harmonica in A?

Or is the possibility of the "automatic" transposition by the universality of any harmonica blow pattern for harmonicas in any key already a learning objective implemented within your approach? Or do you even take this as self evident for beginners?

I do not really know how this is concerning those American songs. But for European concern this maybe would make a harmonica in C or LF more recommendable instead. I do not know how far you already have considered about transposing of example and practice songs. Tabs maybe can avoid this question more easy. But did not you also write about sheet music?

I have set a little experiment in motion. ... 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 am very much looking forward to your upcoming reports. And I am interested too about her decisions on positions. This is an intersting question which had not been considered very often - if at all - in harmonica teaching to younger children as well as to very beginners of any age up till now.

At least this is a very progressive experiment on teaching the harmonica. It is leaving lots of older teaching methods behind. And it seems to me quite promising. And at least it does not require totally new help devices. Simply a harmonica, some sheet or tabs and optimally a patiently supervising teacher is sufficient.


dear greetings
triona

[EdvinW]

What a nice story! I'm much looking forward to hearing how this develops!

Regarding your choice of tuning I think you are on to something. I have been recommending Paddies whenever I advice beginners for several years!

My main motivations are usually to let the beginner play in minor keys and to extend first position downwards by reclaiming the missing sixth in the first octave. What you write, about actually making 2nd position something you can play *tunes* in, as opposed to merely being a way of making bluesy-sounding licks, is a really good point as well. Some people are drawn to the harmonica because they want to play the blues, true, but I think a fair number of beginners just want to approach it as a musical instrument, without focusing on any particular genre.

When I first started my harmonica journey in my teens, I was immediately deterred by the "missing notes", and it wasn't until I realised I could retune 3 blow that I was motivated to play regularly.


In response to Triona, the BigSix could work as well, but it's missing either the octave in first position (the blues version) or any notes below the tonic (the folk version), and for a Paddy I think the seventh hole adds a lot to the potential. If you're set on Seydel, I would rather use BigSix with another tuning altogether, like Spiral, or go with a full-sized Paddy.

As for the keys, it might just be my lack of early education shining through, but I never encountered the idea that children's songs would be in any particular key before. I just learned to sing them as a child, and I suppose I assumed that people played them by ear in any key they saw fit.

You frame it as a "learning objective" in addition to learning to play, but I would view any talk about keys as being unnecessarily academic when talking to a complete beginner, especially an eight-year-old.

The main reason to choose any particular key, as I view it, is to be able to play with others. When a child starts to want to learn more complicated tunes that a musician couldn't easily play in any key, or want to play with other people, THEN the key matters. At that point, the child might be ready for a second harmonica anyway

[EdvinW]

Any updates on your neighbour's progress? Or about the method in general?

(I sent you a direct message, by the way!)

[BerrichonDu74]

Bonjour,
Je trouve enfin quelqu'un qui a une approche du débutant comme je le ressent.
Pour ma part j'ai 65 ans. j'ai commencé en avril de cet année 2023 avec un diatonique et j'avais l'impression qu'il fallait absolument jouer du blues. Je n'aime pas trop le blues, je suis désolé...
Puis le fruit de mes recherches ma conduit à Brendan et j'ai immédiatement modifié mon Lee Oskar (C) en Paddy Richter.
Quel bonheur...
j'ai depuis un certain temps un Golden Melody-version précédente (c) (Paddy Richter) que j'adore.
J'en ai acheter deux autres d'occasion pour offrir et je me posais justement la question ; ré accordage ou pas?.
La balance pèse maintenant nettement vers le Paddy