Determining Positions
Dave Hi
I have come a long way in understanding “position” playing on the harp and why we would chose positions but… This may be a trivial question that you must get thoroughly sick of. This is the question. How do I work out the position I am playing in. Simple example, I pick up an A harp and start playing “She will be coming round the mountain” (I did say simple). The tune starts on 3+ and most of the first few bars are blow notes. This would imply first position but how would I know.
Playing an A harp the tune starts 3+ is E the next hole is 4+ A back to 3+ then 2+ C# etc.
The A I chord would be A C# E so with all the 3+E the 4+ A and the 2+ C# it covers all the chord notes. So I would put my money on 1st Position.
Rather than the specific answer to this tune I am interested to know how I would work it out for any tune. Is there a tutorial you can point me to.
Apologies it there is something that I have missed in your great tutoring. Thanks
You're dead-on John. In the first line of the melody, out of 11 notes, 9 of them are of the A C# E chord, so you're analysis is correct... you found the home chord, the I Chord.
When determining the position/key (they mean the same thing), you play for a bit and find your resolution note... the note at the end of the phrase or completed melody (sometimes it doesn't come until the end) where it feels resolved, like it has come home. This is your tonic, or the key of the song. In this case, it's 4+, which is 1st Position.
Sometimes this work is very challenging, you won't always be able to easily assess the position/key of a song... it's a guessing game. With experimentation, and asking your buddies with more musical experience sometimes, you'll figure it out.