METHODS TO LEARN MUSICAL FREE IMPROVISATION-COMPOSITION WITH NEW PERCEPTIONS

This book is for learning music composition and improvisation , based on more abstract mathematics of the music, the rhythm and the musical instrument and with new musical practice. It is a new awareness and method to link mental perception-images, the creation of feelings and finger actions. The true goal of composition and improvisation is the existential process of creating and listening it. It is both individually healing and socially celebrating.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

274. AN "OBVIOUS" IMPROVEMENT TO THE STANDARD DIATONIC AND CHROMATIC TUNING OF THE MOUTH HARMONICA.

AN "OBVIOUS" IMPROVEMENT TO THE STANDARD DIATONIC TUNING OF THE MOUTH HARMONICA.

Harmonica is a marvelous little instrument with nice harmonic sound.

The standard Richter-tuning is specializing in playing the Blues, and the chords I, ii, V.
For this reason I refused to learn harmonica when I was a student as it was that it was too much specializing in Blues, and I could play in order the melodies only in the middle. Now that I discovered that you can configure your harmonica the way you want I decided to learn harmonica. There is one only aspect that I do like the Richter tuning: It forces you to play with 2 major chords and one only minor thus forces youtoplay mainly happy music! I realize now that with the Ionian circular tuning the harmonica might have become, the most friendly instrument as friendly as the Celtic harp or Chinese panflude (which is with a single flexible blow pipe in the mouth and at the other end a sliding on a driver blowing-device on all tubes, one each time).

But what if we want a harmonica that is not specializing in any particular type of music? What would be then the optimal tuning? Here we answer this question.

The main advantages of harmonicas are

1) It is small in size, therefore movements required for different notes or chords are small

2) Because each hole has a double function, by blowing or drawing giving possibly two different notes, the movements for the melodies or chord changes are even smaller.

3) For chromatic harmonicas, the sliding lever produces usually 2 more (in total 4) notes for each hole, which makes the movements for melodies rich in notes small.

4) Harmonicas are polyphonic wind instruments. After the suggested optimal tuning for chords but also for melodies below, the sequence of holes of the harmonica gives pairs of notes or triads-chords of notes which makes the underlying harmony of the melodies directly audible with little movements. Intervals of 3rds or 4ths are realized even at successive holes, while intervals of 5ths at holes with only one hole between them. This is not so easy in melodica or accordina.

5) The metal free-reeds have a penetrating but not sol oud and penetrating sound as thew trumpet or saxophone, which makes harmonicas appropriate for practice inside apartments and homes.

6) The techniques of tremolo by the palms and note bendings give special colors to the sound not possible with melodica or accordion.

7) The ability to order custom tunings for manufactured harmonicas is a great advantage compared to other instruments like piano or accordion, where the white keys cannot be changed to any desired diatonic scale.

8) The technique of blowing or drawing in a hole is a rather easy matter, and as the kips and mouth slide on the harmonica we get the feeling of glissando as in violin, but still, the notes are discrete. This allows for an easy and fast finding of the desired note in improvisation.

9) Based on the above the improvisation with harmonicas which combines melodies with chords and simultaneously sounding pairs of notes at intervals of 3rds, is a rather more direct and easier practice compared to all other instruments.

10) Because the sliding of the lips by blowing only or drawing only in consecutive holes is easier than alternating blowing and drawing while sliding the lips, the result is that more often we produce improvisational melodies with more 3rds than 2nds which is more melodic and harmonic rather than chromatic, and so the improvisation is harmonically and melodically more beautiful. Of course, this is the same with the double two zamponia panflute but the additional advantage of the harmonica is that because of the small size of the holes we can produce easily chords or simultaneously sounding pairs of notes at intervals of 3rds.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
blow	G	B	D	G	B	D	G	B	D	G
draw	A	D	F♯	A	C	E	F♯	A	C	E

OR IN STEPS OF THE DIATONIC SCALE INDEPENDENT FROM THE ROOT

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
blow	1	3	5	1	3	5	1	3	5	1
draw	2	5	7	2	4	6	7	2	4	6

In chords by 3 consecutive notes it has the pattern


blow	I	I	I
draw	V	ii	vii

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	1M			1M			1M
draw	5M			2m			7d

We notice some irregularities

1) The blow upper row repeats the root chord G major and the horizontal sequence of intervals is not alternating major-minor 3rds but also a 4th. Thus there is no upper horizontal uniformity of intervals

2) The lower draw row again is not uniform. From the D and right there is an alternation of major-minor intervals, but the first A-D is a 4th and the 6-7 is an interval of 2nd. The sequence repeats

3) Non-uniformity exists also in the vertical intervals, that are mainly 2nds but the 2 and 3 are 3rds

4) Only the chords of the steps of the diatonic scale 1, 5, 2, 7,6 are playable horizontally. The chords 3, 4 are missing.

The logic of why the notes are placed as they are seen seems to be so as to play chords for 3 consecutive notes, while at the same time provide all the notes of the diatonic scale.

Now if we set the requirements that

a) Play as many chords as possible by 3 consecutive notes

b) Provide all the notes of the diatonic scale

c) Make the design as symmetric as possible for intuitive reasons

Then the ionian mode circular tuning is the very well known double row panflute arrangement

(e.g. zamponia panflute)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
blow	G	B	D	F#	A	C	E	G	B	D
draw	A	C	E	G	B	D	F#	A	C	E

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
blow	1	3	5	7	2	4	6	1	3	5
draw	2	4	6	1	3	5	7	2	4	6

In chords by 3 consecutive notes it has the pattern

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
blow	I	iii	V	vii	ii	IV	vi	I
draw	ii	IV	vi	I	iii	V	vii	ii

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
blow	1M	3m	5M	7d	2m	4M	6m	1M
draw	2m	4M	6m	1M	3m	5M	7d	2m

If we want a chord progression with harmonic transitions (in other words by intervals of 5th or 4th, besides 2nds) that involves all 3 major chords of the diatonic scale, with blows only here it is

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
blow	I		V			IV		I
draw

While if we want a chord progression with harmonic transitions (in other words by intervals of 5th or 4th, besides 2nds) that involves all 3 minor chords of the diatonic scale, with draws only here it is

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
blow
draw	ii		vi		iii		vii

Given that blows are easier and longer compared to draws that are more difficult and shorter, it is more likely that improvising with such a tuning we will have happier music rather than sad music.

The above setting is the IONIAN MODE. The MYXOLYDIAN MODE would be

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
blow	D	F#	A	C	E	G	B	D	F#	A
draw	E	G	B	D	F#	A	C	E	G	B

And the chords would be

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
blow	V	vii	ii	IV	vi	I	iii	V
draw	vi	I	iii	V	vii	ii	V	vi

Although the harmonic chord progression V, IV, I, V does occur in the blows, the root chord I occurs only once, compared to the Ionian mode that occurs twice. Personally, I prefer that IONIAN MODE as the root chord is more favorable by blows.

Other scales that can be put in cyclic order are

7-NOTES DOUBLE HARMONIC MINOR

7-NOTES NEAPOLITAN SCALE

6-NOTES CELTIC MINOR

E.g. for the latter and for Celtic D minor the tunning table would be

Other types of interesting tuning involve putting the melodic by 3rd sequence of chords of a diatonic scale, to a shift by a 5th higher as in the following table for D major
DIATONIC HARMONICA FOR CHORDS MAINLY
The circular tuning as we mentioned provides all the chords of the diatonic scale, in the blow and draw rows in the melodic sequence, in other words by steps of intervals of 3rd. The blow and draw rows are in chromatic relation, in other words, they differ by an interval of 2nd. This pattern can be varied. E.g. the blow row and the draw may still remain a melodic sequence of chords but now the blow and draw rows can differ by an interval of 5th (harmonic relation), as in the next table of tuning for the D major diatonic scale. Such a tuning provides also all the chords, in blow-draw pairs that are in harmonic relation (differ by an interval of 5th) but it is not intended so as to play melodies of known songs, but rather to play mainly chords in pairs of harmonic relations and improvise almost randomly and still the result is harmonic and melodic to listen , because it always plays an harpeggio of a chord.

Probably a happier alternative than the one in the table below would be that the draw row has lower pitch chords instead of higher. Thus for the first pair instead of blow=d4 f#4 a4 and draw=a4 c5 e5 , the blow=d4 f#4 a4 and draw=a3 c4 e4 .

In case we want also to more chords , then we should use the slide feature and design the tuning as
follows (The non-pushed slide is as befor , while by pushingte slide we create another harmonc pair of blow-draw rows but at an interval of 2nd away from the previous)

EACH PAIR OF BLOW-DRAW HAS THE NEXT PATTERNOF CHORDS

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
blow	1M	3m	5M	7d	2m	4M	6m	1M
draw	5M	7d	2m	4M	6m	1M	3m	5M

And the sequence of notes in intervals of semitones is

+7-3+7-4+7-3+6-3+7-4+7-3+7-4+7 etc

We could use a simplified version ofthe tuning so that at the blow row there is only one chord and at the draw row only one chord two major chords an intevalof fifth apart. E.g. F major-C major
as in the table below. Then we would have esentially a 5-tonic scale the

2-2-3-4-1 (called also greek pentatonic in post 117).

If we want to make an harmonica that plays only the minor pentatonic scale, it is really difficult. Because the two main chords of it e.g. for A minor pentatonic is Am and G major, which are relative chords. Thus te most obvious is toput then on the same blow or draw row. But what to put in the other as there is only one more note ? (A-C-E , C-E-G, the one note outside is D) The solutions is to create
a power chord A-D-A which is also a root power chord. And as a power chord is strong end better be at the blow row. Thus the solution inthe table below. This harmonica plays only the minor pentatonic scale, and 3 chords Am, Cmajor at thr draw raw and A power chord at the blow row.

Also, an alternative mixture of the Richter with the circular is the next, where in the first 3 holes is as in the Richter, but the last two octaves are circular. It has again all the 7 chords of the diatonic scale.
A combined tuning of the Richter and circular, has the chords V, I at the first 3 holes and it is identical with the Richter in the first 3 holes but it has the Ionian circular tuning for the rest of the holes from 4 to 10. It has again all the 7 chords of the diatonic scale, and the melodies are played on the higher 3 octaves, while the lower bass 3 holes are left for the chords I, V, as bass or chord-harmonica.
The only advantage of the standard chromatic tuning is that it is periodic per each octave. Nevertheless, the cost of it is double
1) There is a significant loss in chord completeness
2) We must reverse blowing drawing at the last notes 7 , 1 of each octave.
I believe it is better to sacrifice the periodicity per octave and have periodicity per 2 octaves and gain
1) Chord completeness
2) no reversing of blow-draw at the last pair of each octave.
3) Because during the minimum of 2 octaves the blow-draw properties of the notes reverse there is the possibility of breath-balance by shifting the melodic themes to the adjacent octave.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
blow	1	3	5	1	3	5	7	2	4	6
draw	2	5	7	2	4	6	1	3	5	7

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
blow	C	E	G	C	E	G	B	D	F	A
draw	D	G	B	D	F	A	C	E	G	B

Or for 13 holes harmonica like the lucky 13 by Brendan Power:

In general harmonicas of 13 or 14 holes could devote the first 5-6 holes for playing in pairs chords X1(blow)-X2(draw), X4(blow)-X3(draw) (or any other triad of chords from a diatonic scale e.g. X4=X1=I ,X2=V, X3=IV or X4=X1=I ,X2=IV X3=V or X4=X1=I ,X2=V, X3=ii or X4=X1=I ,X2=ii X3=V or X4=X1=vi ,X2=V, X3=IV or X1=I ,X2=iii X3=IV or X1=I , X2=vi , x3=V or X1=I , X2=iii , X3=V etc) and the rest of 8-7 holes for 2 full octaves with circular tuning for melodies and a full set of 7 chords. Three chords is a simple and very usual set of chords for easy improvisations.

In the next examples X1=X4.

E.g. E.g, for C major and chords X1=I, X2=V, X3=IV

And for C major and chords X1=I, X2=ii X3=V

Or for C major and chords X1=I, X2=V X3=ii

As alternative to half chord-based and half-scaled based design ofthe tuning ofthe harmonica, we mayhave the multi-scales based design.

E.g. we may utilize half of the first part of the above harmonica to play the Blues 6-notes scale, and the rest the full diatonic scale (cyclic tuning) thus in total and for the C major scale as below

Blues+diatonic

If we consider e.g. the C the blues 6-notes scale to to be the C Eb E F# G Bb (intervals in semitones
3-1-2-1-3-2) which is a 6-notes simplification of the double harmonic minor 7-notes scale

C Eb E F F# G Bb (intervals in semitones 3-1-2-1-3-1-1), then the tui would be

Eb3

F#3

Bb3

Eb4

F#4

Bb4

Notice that in the blowing row we have the chord C E G43 times initialy , while in the draw raw, the
major chord Eb F# Bb and the major chord F# Bb Eb, and the augmented chord F# Bb D.

On the other habd if we consider that the Blues scale is the major country 6-notes scale
C D Eb E G A C (interval structure 2-1-1-3-2-3) which is a 6-notes simplification of the 7-notes Byzantine parachromatic scale C D Eb E G Ab A C (interval structure 2-1-1-3-1-1-3) Then the tuning would be

Eb3

Eb4

See alo post 245 about the first 4 blue notes of diatonic scale.

3 OR 4 CHORDS HARMONICAS

The rule for 2 or 3 or 4 chords-based tunings is that

1) horizontally either in the blow row or in the draw row are not allowed intervals other than 3rds, 4ths, 5ths for reasonsof harmony.
2) But any inversion of the chord is allowed

3) And of course you try to put as many notes of the diatonic scale as possible and with the right pitch order, so that in cyclic sequence they are in the smalest possible intervals

The way to play such harmonicas is better not uniform distribution of time among the notes but to spend more time in the 3 zones (either blow or draw) of 3 consecutive notes that define the pattern of the 3 or 4 chords this 3+3 +3 holes.

The role of such 3 or 4 chords tuning of harmonicas is not to play all possible songs and melodies (this is best done by the cyclic tuning) but to improvise on melodies that are accompanied only with these 3 or 4 chords AND to play easily only these 3 or 4 chords as it is

simple to know where to find them. This combination of solo playing and chord playing when estricted to 3 or 4 chords only is best done with such tunings and not with the universal cyclic tuning than can play of course the same thing but in a quite more difficult way requiring significant skill. If the improvisation melody in such 3-4 chords harmonicas requires passing notes that exactly missing notes from the sequence ofthe diatonic scale, then bending of notes might apply. On the other hand the missing notes define subscales of the diatonic scale that are beautiful and fitting best with the chords

If we want to set the 3 basic major chords of a diatonic scale 1M, 4M, 5M at the blow row ,together with their closest from below diminished chords (that resolve to them) that is 7dim, 3dim, 4#dim , then this is possible with a bonus of two additional chords apearing in the draw row the 3m and 6m.
Here is how this can be done for the G major diatonic scale in the next table. The 3 basic major chords are Gmajor, Cmajor Dmajor in the blow row, and the 3 diminished chords that the resolve to them at the draw row are the F#dim, Bdim, C#dim. The bonus chordss are the Bm and Em. The total 3 octaves scale has interval structure 2-2-1-2-4-1-4-1-2-2-1-4-4-1-2-2-1-2-2

The chord positions are as in the next table

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	1M			4M			5M
draw	7d			3d			4#d

If someone does not want to utilize the resolving diminshed chords and wants to remain inside the diatonic scale on way to do it is as in the next table for the C major scale

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	1M			4M			1M
draw	7d			5M			7d

Notice that the main goal of such a tuning is not to play all posible songs of the C major scale (this is done by the cyclic tuning) but to play songs and improvise over the 3 major chords of the scale 1M 4M 5M.

Still another version of the 1M 4M 5M that has 3 times the 1M 2 times the 5M and one time the 4M is the next forthe Fmajor scale

The chord positions are as in the next table

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	1M			4M			1M
draw	5M			1M			5M

And still another alternative is the

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	1M			1M			4M
draw	7d			5M			1M

With tuning table at the C major the one below

If on the other hand we want to substitute the 4M chord with the minor relative 6m , then a possible tuning for the F major scale would be the next table

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	1M			6m			1M
draw	7d			5M			7d

While if we want as in the blues to substitute the 4M with the lower relative chord 2m, then a possible tuning would be as in the next table for the G major scale. IN MY OPINION THE RICHTER TUNINGI SNOT THE OPTIMAL TUNING TO PLAY IMPROVISATIONS OVER THE TRIAD OF CHORDS I ii V (or 1M 2m 5M) . The next tuning iS CLOSER TO THE OPTIMAL FOR IMPROVISATIONS OVER THE TRIAD I ii V.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	1M			2m			1M
draw	7d			5M			7d

Stil another version o 1M , 2m 5M is the next for the C major scale

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	1M			5M			1M
draw	7d			2m			7d

We may compare it with the Richter tuning

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	1M			1M			1M
draw	5M			2m			7d

For a minor chords triad like the iii, vi, ii, (3m , 6m, 2m) the next table of tuing is a way for the Bb diatonic scale

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	6m			2m			6m
draw	3m			6m			3m

The full 3-octaves scale in semitones for te abive harmonica is 2-1-4-3-2-3-2-1-4-2-1-4-3-2-2

Notice that there in it the inverse of the Greek-Richter pentatonic 2-1-4-3-2 (see post 117 ) which is maximal harmonic, and is repeating twice in the full 3-octaves scale. Also there is the 3-2-3-2 which is 4 notes part of the standard pentatonic scale 3-2-3-2-2.

For triads like 1M 4M 3m the next table is a way for the G major diatonic scale

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	1M			4M			1M
draw	7d			3m			7d

MORE TUNIGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH 4 CHORDS LIKE THE NEXT PATTERNS

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	4M			5M			4M
draw	1M			2m			1M

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	4M			5M			4M
draw	3m			1M			3m

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	1M			4M			1M
draw	7d			3m			7d

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
blow	4M			5M			4M
draw	1M			6m			1M

THE OBVIOUS ADVANTAGES OF THE IONIAN CIRCULAT TUNING ARE

0) All types of music can be played, as with the piano. Actually, this tuning occurs in Zamponia panflutes with double rows of tubes.

1) The blow upper row is alternating major-minor 3rds only. Any 3 consecutive notes are a chord of the diatonic scale

2) The draw lower row is alternating major-minor 3rds only. Any 3 consecutive notes are a chord of the diatonic scale

3) The vertical intervals ( draw-next hole blow), are only intervals of 2nds. You know where to find each note, not because you have played the tuning 50,000 times but because they are in the natural order of their pitch.

4) All the chords of the steps of the diatonic scale 1, 2,3,4,5,6, 7, are playable horizontally. No chord is missing.

5) All the 3 major chords in harmony chord progression occur in the blows

6) All 3 minor chords in harmonic progression occur in the draws.

7) Because the periodicity is not per one octave but per two octaves, all the notes in the first two octaves occur, either as blows or as draws which not only give a balance in the breath but also allows more bends to occur as draw-bends which is easier.

8) The Ionian mode of this tuning seems to be more favored by the blows compared t the Myxoliodian mode.

9) A complete balance of drow and blow breaths can be achieved with the chromatic technology, where instead of adding sharps or flats we interchange drow and blow property of the same note (as in the example table below)

10) We may enhance the octaves range by the chromatic harmonica technology, where instead of adding sharps or flats we jump to the next octave whenever we push the button-lever (as in the example table below)

11) The same cyclic tuning in the Aeolian mode can give tunings with the harmonic minor or also the double harmonic minor scale.(see example below)

12) In the case of chromatic harmonica, the optimal tuning for chord completeness is as in the example below, which allows for chords like 3major instead of only 3minor and 7major7 instead of only 7dimished when pushing the slide. In other words besides the full spectrum of 7 chords of the diatonic scale, I ii iii IV V vi vii or 1M, 2m , 3m, 4M 5M ,6m , 7dim , we also have, after utilizing the lever-slide at the steps 3 and 7 , also the chords 3M and 7M. which is a very common requirement in pop, jazz , latin and other folk , or classical music, which comes from modulating from the natural minor to the harmonic minor and double harmonic minor.

HAPPILY THOUGH MODERN MANUFACTURES OF HARMONICAS LIKE HOEHNER (http://www.tuning-designer.com/)

OR SEIDEL(https://www.seydel1847.de/epages/Seydel1847.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/Seydel/Categories/Configurator/Config_Harmonikas )

HAVE ONLINE TUNING DESIGNER TOOLS SO AS TO ORDER YOUR HARMONICA WITH ANY ORDER OF NOTES YOU WANT.

And indeed I did so ordered and use harmonicas with the above improvement of tuning which are by far easier and more meaningful to play!

Similarly an Harmonic minor tuning would in the same rules , so as to have all the chords of the scale.

So e.g. an A harmonic minor such harmonica would have tuning

and not in the standard way that has few only chords!

HEXATONIC SCALES FOR THE HARMONICA

MOST OF THE HEXATONIC TUNINGS IN THIS DISCUSSION HAVE A SINGLE CHORD AT THE BLOW ROW AND ANOTHER SINGLE CHORD AT THE DRAW ROW.
ACTUALLY ANY TWO SUCCESIVE CHORDS IN THE DIATONIC SCALE (E.G. 7DIM-1M, OR 4M-5M, 3M-4M, 5M-6m , 6m-7dim) CAN BE USED FOR AN APPROPRIATE TWO-CHORD HEXATONIC TUNING HARMONICA.

THUS WE WILL HAVE THE NEXT 6 TYPES OF CHORD PAIRS IN THE HARMONICA WHICH ARE CHORDS IN DIATONIC CHROMATIC RELATION

M=MAJOR m=MIOR d=DIMINSIHED
n=number of semitones that the roots are apart

IONIAN/MYXOLYDIAN: M2m

DORIAN: m2m

FRYGIAN: m1M

LYDIAN: M2M

AEOLIAN: m2d

LOCRIAN:d1M

But we also present many other non-diatonic chromatic pairs that involve also augmented chords and a re met in the harmonic minor (which apears also in the overtone sequence) double harmonic minor, melodic minor (which apears also in the overtone sequence) etc

E.G.

m2M (Erik Satie hexatonic of the harmonic minor heptatonic)

M2dim (hexatonic from melodic minor)

m1m

M3m

M1M (Hexatonic from the harmonic minor)

aug2M

dim1m

m6m

aug3aug

dim1aug

etc

I have ordered and play all of the next chromatic hexatonic scales of the harmonic minor scale and invererse harmonic minor scale (Blues 7-tonic) and when I will find time I will upload sound files of them

ALL OF THE HEXATONIC TUNING IN THIS DISCUSSION HAVE A SINGLE CHORD AT THE BLOW ROW AND ANOTHER SINGLE CHORD AT THE DRAW ROW.

ACTUALLY ANY TWO SUCCESIVE CHORDS IN THE DIATONIC SCALE (E.G. 7DIM-1M, OR 4M-5M, 3M-4M, 5M-6m , 6m-7dim) CAN BE USED FOR AN APPROPRIATE TWO-CHORD HEXATONIC TUNING HARMONICA.

THUS WE WILL HAVE THE NEXT 6 TYPES OF CHORD PAIRS IN THE HARMONICA WHICH ARE CHORDS IN DIATONIC CHROMATIC RELATION (the roots are separated by an interval of 2nd)

e.g. if the 7-notes diatonicscale is the C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C in semitones 2-2-1-2-2-2-1 then

M=MAJOR m=MIOR d=DIMINSIHED

1,2,3 etc =number of semitones that the roots are apart

1) IONIAN/MYXOLYDIAN: M2m C-D-E-F-G-A-C in semitones 2-2-1-2-2-3 and over the Blow-draw 2 chords Cmajor Dminor

or G-A-B-C-D-E-G and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Gmajor Aminor (also called Celtic minor hexatonic)

2) DORIAN: m2m D-E-F-G-A-B-D in semitones 2-1-2-2-2-3 and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Dminor-Eminor (also called Celtic major hexatonic)

3) FRYGIAN: m1M E-F-G-A-B-C-E in semitones 1-2-2-2-1-4 and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Fmajor-Eminor (also a hexatonic version of the

akebono 5-notes scale)

4) LYDIAN: M2M F-G-A-B-C-D-F in semitones 2-2-2-1-2-3 and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Fmajor-Gmajor (also called an alternative

version of Celtic major scale)

5) AEOLIAN: m2d A-B-C-D-E-F-A in semitones 2-1-2-2-1-4 and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Aminor-Bdim

6) LOCRIAN:d1M B-C-D-E-F-G-B in semitones 1-2-2-1-2-4 and over the Blow-Draw 2 chords Bdim-Cmajor (also called enharmonic major)

E.G.

m2M (Erik Satie hexatonic of the harmonic minor heptatonic)

M2dim (hexatonic from melodic minor)

m1m

M3m

M1M (Hexatonic from the harmonic minor)

aug2M

dim1m

m6m

aug3aug

dim1aug

etc

In the future I will upload sound files that show how such harmonicas sound as I have more than 30 different such hexatonic scales 2-chords harmonicas with different emotional moods. With a simple 2-chord backtrack they are an excelelnt simple way to learn and practice improvisations of any type of emotional mood.

In ancient Greece according to Aristoxenos, there were 3 musical gendres , the diatonic , the chromatic and enharmonic which were also tetrachords (total length an interval of 4th) and pentachords (total legth an interval of 5th and consisting from an initial or final tone and a tetrachord as before) and by combing a tetrachord with a pentachord they got various 7-notes scales inside an octave. In other words the 7-notes scale was of the form Tetrachord1+2+tetrachord2 , in which case it was called two "divorced" tercahords or Tetrachord1+tetrachord2+2 in which case it was called two adjoint tetrachords. 1) the Diatonic was balanced feelings (that eventually after more than 1 thousand years resulted to the 7-notes diatonic scale, and a simplified rounding of their tetrcahords to a single one was the 2-2-1 and most probably all permutations of it ) the 2) Chromatic was sad feelings (that eventually after more than 1 thousand years resulted to the 7-notes harmonic minor and double harmonic minor scales, blues scale etc , And a simplified rounding of their tetrachords to a single one was the 3-1-1 nd most probably all permutations of it ) and 3) the enharmonic was happy feelings (used major 3rd intervals and a simplified rounding to a single one was the 4-(1/2)-(1/2)) and most probably all permutations of it ) and has many similarities with the Japanese 5-notes scales like the Akebono with interval structure 4 - 2 - 1 - 4 - 1 e.g. at the mode 2-1-4-1-4 e.g. A B C E F A. (See e.g. the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv7CO-nVFj8 )

DIATONIC GENDRE: CIRCULAR TUNING FOR THE 6-NOTES CELTIC MINOR SCALE

We may also notice that the 6-notes scales are favored for a harmonica, as the periodicity in the circular tuning is per octave and not per 2 octaves as in 7-notes scales. A good example is the Celtic minor 6-notes scale ( in semitones 2-2-3-2-2-1). This scale is used also for the hundpans and hang drums. The example is in the next table of tunning for the case of D root. The blow row is only the chord I and the draw row only the chord ii. The Celtic minor is the maximal harmonic 6-notes scale, in the sense that it is a 6-notes scale with the maximum number of standard chords. In the same way that a 7-notes diatonic scale is a maximal harmonic 7-notes scale in the sense that it is a 7-notes scale with a maximum number of standard chords (see the article https://simplerguitarlearning.blogspot.com/2018/08/117-small-7-notes-diatonic-scale-and.html )

An example is in the next table of tunning for the case of D root.
MOST OF THE HEXATONIC TUNINGS IN THIS DISCUSSION HAVE A SINGLE CHORD AT THE BLOW ROW AND ANOTHER SINGLE CHORD AT THE DRAW ROW.
ACTUALLY ANY TWO SUCCESIVE CHORDS IN THE DIATONIC SCALE (E.G. 7DIM-1M, OR 4M-5M, 3M-4M, 5M-6m , 6m-7dim) CAN BE USED FOR AN APPROPRIATE TWO-CHORD HEXATONIC TUNING HARMONICA.

Stil another mode of it is the next where at blowing is the major chord and at draw is the minor. In the example table below we are in t he G major scale.

On the other hand the sequence 2-3-2-2-2-1 (e.g. C-D-F-G-A-B) IS NOT A CYCLIC PERMUTATION of the 2-2-3-2-2-1 or 1-2-2-3-2-2 or 3-2-2-1-2-2 and it should be considered a different scale than the Celtic 6-notes (minor) not a different mode of it. It could be called maybe Celtic 6-notes major, because both the blow-row chord and the draw-row chord are major chords! MOST OF THE HEXATONIC TUNINGS IN THIS DISCUSSION HAVE A SINGLE CHORD AT THE BLOW ROW AND ANOTHER SINGLE CHORD AT THE DRAW ROW. Below is the table of such a tuning for a harmonica starting from D, and not C but with the same interval structure 2-3-2-2-2-1. And there is alo the inverse of this scale with interval structure 2-1-2-2-2-3 E.g. again derivable from the 7-notes C major mode of the diatonic scale , but now we omit C. Thus D-E-F-G-A-B-D . I believe the previous discussion completely clarifies the distiction between a scale and its modes.

The Byzantine culture absorbed the musical culture of Ancient Greece, that used mainly not 7-notes scales but 4 and 5 notes scales of total length an interval of 4th or 5th (called tetrachorda). The names of the modes Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian , Lydian etc were originally different 7-notes scales in the Byzantine empire relevant to the places in Greece that were mostly used, that when the European culture after Bach absorbed them in the 12-notes equal tempered system, thet altered them, and they ended to become different modes of the one diatonic scale and not different scales.

The inverse of the Celtic major, which is the 2-1-2-2-2-3 has one minor chord at the Blow row and one minor at the draw row. Here the tuning table at the G major scale as 2m-3m

Hexatonic scales as the above at various modes of them are used not only at modern handpans but also at chinese Bahu flutes.

CHROMATIC GENDRE: BLUES - COUNTRY 6-NOTES MAJOR SCALE AND THE 7-NOTES BYZANTINE PARACHROMATIC SCALE.

ALL 7 HEXATONIC SCALES FROM THE 7 MODES OF THE 7-NOTES BLUES SCALE (OR INVERSE HARMONIC MINOR SCALE)

Some og these hexatonic scales of the inverse harmonic minor are also hexatonic scales of the diatonic scale or the melodic minor or the double harmonic minor!

7-NOTES BLUES SCALE C-D-Eb-F-Gb-A-Bb (or in semitones 2-1-2-1-3-1-2) also inverse harmonic minor scale, with chords

Cdim, Dminor, Ebminor, FMajor, Gb augmented , A diminished , Bb major

4.1) 1st mode C-D-Eb-F-Gb-A-C (or in semitones 2-1-2-1-3-3) based on the 2 chords Cdim-Dm

4.2) 2nd mode D-Eb-F-Gb-A-Bb-D (or in semitones 1-2-1-3-1-4) based on the 2 chords

Dmin-Ebmin (hexatonic caval double harmonic minor too)

4.3) 3rd mode Eb-F-Gb-A-Bb-C (or in semitones 2-1-3-1-2-3) based on the 2 chords Ebmin-Fmajor (Erik Satie hexatonic scale)

4.4) 4th mode F-Gb-A-Bb -C-D-F (or in semitones 1-3-1-2-2-3) based on the 2 chords

Fmajor-Gbaug ( inverse hexatonic neapolitan )

4.5) 5th mode Gb-A-Bb-C-D-Eb-Gb (or in semitones 3-1-2-2-1-3) based on the 2 chords

Gbaug-Adim

4.6) 6th mode A-Bb-C-D-Eb-F-A (or in semitones 1-2-2-1-2-4) based on the 2 chords Adim-Bbmajor (hexatonic enharmonic major, or hexatonic Locrian mode)

4.7) 7th mode Bb-C-D-Eb-F-Gb-Bb (or in semitones 2-2-1-2-1-4) based on the 2 chords

Bbmajor-Cdim (Hexatonic melodic minor too)

ALL 7 HEXATONIC SCALES FROM THE 7 MODES OF THE 7-NOTES HARMONIC MINOR SCALE .

Some og these hexatonic scales of the inverse harmonic minor are also hexatonic scales of the diatonic scale or the melodic minor or the double harmonic minor!

7-NOTES HARMONIC MINOR SCALE A-B-C-D-E-F-G#-A (or in semitones 2-1-2-2-1-3-1) with chords Aminor-Bdim-Caug-Dminor-EMajor-FMajor-G#dim-Aminor

4.1) 1st mode A-B-C-D-E-F-A in semitones 2-1-2-2-1-4 based on the 2 chords

Amin-Bdim (Aelian diatonic too)

4.2) 2nd mode B-C-D-E-F-G#-B in semitones 1-2-2-1-3-3 based on the 2 chords Bdim-Caug

4.3) 3rd mode C-D-E-F-G#-A -C in semitones 2-2-1-3-1-3 based on the 2 chords Caug-Dminor (Neapolitan Hexatonic too)

4.4) 4th mode D-E-F-G#-A-B-D in semitones 2-1-3-1-2-3 based on the 2 chords Dminor-Emajor (Erik Satie hexatonic)

4.5) 5th mode E-F-G#-A-B-C-E in semitones 1-3-1-2-1-4 based on the 2 chords

Emajor-Fmajor

4.6) 6th mode F-G#-A-B-C-D-E-F in semitones 3-1-2-1-2-3 based on the 2 chords

Fmajor-G#dim

4.7) 7th mode in semitones 1-2-1-2-2-4 based on the 2 chords

G#dim-Amin (hexatonic enharmonic minor)

FROM THE 7-NOTES MELODIC MINOR THE HEXATONIC SUBSCALES NOT COVERED BY THE PREVIOUS ARE THE NEXT

E.g. let the 7-notes melodic minor A-B-C-D-E-F#-G#-A in semitones 2-1-2-2-2-2-1 and chords

m-m-aug-M-M-m-d the next are additional hexatonics

C-D-E-F#-G#-A-B-D in semitones 2-2-2-2-1-3 and 2 chords Caug-Dmajor

B-C-D-E-F#-G#-B in semitones 1-2-2-2-2-3 and 2 chords Bminor-Caug

F-G#-A-B-C-D-F# in semitones 2-1-2-1-2-4 and 2 chords F#minor-G#dim

According to the wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_scale), a 6-notes version of the major country-blues scale is e.g. the
C, D, D♯/E♭, E, G, A, with interval structure 2-1-1-3-2-3. Or if we prefer a root at D, then D-E-F-F#-A-B-D. Below is the table for a harmonica with such a tuning.

On the other hand historically the Byzantine emptire was utilizing many 7-notes scales, not possible to include in the Bach equal tempered 12-notes chromatic scale. But 3 chromatic sacles of them are possible more or less to include, Two of the chromatic such scales are the harmonic minor (e.g. from the A natural minor we derive the harmonic minor by giving a sharp at G, thus A B C D E F G# A , with interval structure 2-1-2-2-1-3-1) and the double harmonic minor (an additional sharp to d thus A B C D# E F G# A , with interval structure 2-1-3-1-1-3-1). They where used mainly in religious hymns in the Churchs. But the 3rd such chromatic scale was used mainly in the Emperors palace and other cosmic events and was called parachromatic (see e.g. http://www.huygens-fokker.org/docs/modename.html http://www.huygens-fokker.org/scala/ ). The Byzantine parachromatic scale is called also inverse Persian or Purvi Theta scale. The part 2-1-1-3 is also known as samba pentachord in arabian culture, while the part 1-1-3 is known since ancient Greece time as the tonal tetrachord of the chromatic family. The interval structure of the parachromatic Byzantine scale is 2-1-1-3-1-1-3 . Thus starting from D , it would be D, E, F, Gb ,A, Bb, B , D We may observe that it is a 7-notes version of the Blues scale, and a tuning table for a harmonicas at the D4- major 6-notes Blues-country scale and a D4- parachromatic 7-notes scales are given below. (see also article https://simplerguitarlearning.blogspot.com/2019/06/235-parachromatic-byzantine-overtone.html )

CHROMATIC GENDRE: MORE 6-NOTES SCALES THAT ARE BEAUTIFUL FOR HARMONICAS. COMBINING PARTS OF THE PENTATONIC WITH CHROMATIC PARTS.

MOST OF THE HEXATONIC TUNINGS IN THIS DISCUSSION HAVE A SINGLE CHORD AT THE BLOW ROW AND ANOTHER SINGLE CHORD AT THE DRAW ROW.
ACTUALLY ANY TWO SUCCESIVE CHORDS IN THE DIATONIC SCALE (E.G. 7DIM-1M, OR 4M-5M, 3M-4M, 5M-6m , 6m-7dim) CAN BE USED FOR AN APPROPRIATE TWO-CHORD HEXATONIC TUNING HARMONICA.

We noticed in the previous post that the Blues-country scale with interval structure 2-1-1-3-2-3, (and any cyclic permutation of it, is still the same scale although a different mode of it) sounds partially as the pentatonic scale 2-2-3-2-3 and partially with chromatic part 1-1-3 which was identified as the ancient Greek tonal tetrachord of the chromatic family. By writting the Blues scale in a different 5th mode of it (cyclic permutation) makes it more clear: 2-3-2-1-1-3 . The 2-3-2 part is inherited from the pentatonic scale 2-2-3-2-3 and the 1-1-3 is the ancient Greel tonal tetrachord of the chromatic family (that exist also in the Byzantine emperor parachromatic 7-notes scale). Such scales may be obviously be used in Gypsy jazz, but in ordinary western jazz too.

Other parts of the pentatonic sacle are also the 2-2-3,

1) Thus we may discover the next hexatonic scale that should sound similarly 2-2-3-1-1-3 and it is not a different mode of the Blues-country scale. In the tables below we show this tuning , when starting from the root D . Thus D-E-F#-A-Bb-B-D. It is still a 6-notes version of the Byzantine parachromatic scale of the previous post but different from the Blues-country scale, still sounding in a similar way.

2) There are the invesres of course of the previous hexatonic scales a) the inverse ofthe Blues-country in the mode 2-3-2-1-1-3, which is the 2-3-2-3-1-1 (after inverting and taking a cyclic permutation of it). b) The inverse of the 2-2-3-1-1-3, which is the 3-2-2-1-1-3 ((after inverting and taking a cyclic permutation of it). We write them always so as to separate the pentatonic part, and the chromatic part.

3) If we combine now the pentatonic part 2-3-2 (of the Blues scale) with the chromatic part 1-3-1 (which exists in the harmonic minor) we get a hexatonic scale 2-3-2-1-3-1, that sounds partially as pentatonic and partially as chromatic (harmonic minor). It is a 6-notes version of the harmonic minor scale,perfect for harmonicas that favor in the cyclic tuningthe heaxtonic scales. Some times it is also called the Erik Satie hexatonic scale. (See e.g. the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okU96j6ThIM&t=8s )We give below the tuning table when starting from the root D. And of course there is the inverse of it again which is not a different mode of it. D-E-G-A-Bb-C#-D.

4) If we combine now the pentatonic scale part 3-2-2 with the chromatic part 1-3-1 (which exists in the harmonic minor) we get a hexatonic scale
3-2-2-1-3-1, or at a different mode as 2-1-3-1-3-2 that sounds partially as pentatonic and partially as chromatic (harmonic minor). It is a 6-notes version of the Neapolitan scale 2-1-3-1-1-2-2 (e.g. from D it would be D-E-F-G#-A-Bb-C-D), perfect for harmonicas that favor in the cyclic tuning the hexatonic scales. We give below the tuning table when starting from the roor D thus D-E-F-G#-A-C-D , with interval structure at the mode 2-1-3-1-3-2 .And of course there is the inverse of it again which is not a different mode of it.

5) If we start with the double harmonic minor, e.g. from A, it is A-B-C-D#-E-F-G#-A which has interval structure 2-1-3-1-1-3-1 , we may derive an appropriate hexatonic which contains a part ofthe pentatonic scale ,which here is the 3-2-3. The resulting scale is the 3-2-3-1-2-1, or in a different mode the 2-1-3-2-3-1. Starting from the root D it is D-E-F-G#-Bb-C#-D.At Blow it is Bb major and at Draw it is C#minor
The mode 1-2-1-3-2-3 e.g. F# G ABb C# D# would give at the Blow row a single minor chord F# and at the Drow row a major chord D# .

There are also similar hexatonic scales that are symmetric like 3-2-1-3-2-1 or 3-1-2-3-1-2 or 1-2-3-1-2-3. The latter when placed to an harmonica tuning it gives at the blow row a single chord and at the draw row again a single chord E.g. A-Bb-C-D#-E-F#-A.

ENHARMONIC GENDRE: MORE HEXATONIC SCALES FOR HARMONICAS : UTILISING AKEBONO 5-NOTES SCALE

MOST OF THE HEXATONIC TUNINGS IN THIS DISCUSSION HAVE A SINGLE CHORD AT THE BLOW ROW AND ANOTHER SINGLE CHORD AT THE DRAW ROW.
ACTUALLY ANY TWO SUCCESIVE CHORDS IN THE DIATONIC SCALE (E.G. 7DIM-1M, OR 4M-5M, 3M-4M, 5M-6m , 6m-7dim) CAN BE USED FOR AN APPROPRIATE TWO-CHORD HEXATONIC TUNING HARMONICA.

In ancient Greece according to Aristoxenos, there were 3 musical gendres , the diatonic , the chromatic and enharmonic which were also tetrachords (total length an interval of 4th) and pentachords (total legth an interval of 5th and consisting from an initial or final tone and a tetrachord as before) and by combing a tetrachord with a pentachord they got various 7-notes scales inside an octave . In other words the 7-notes scale was of the form Tetrachord1+2+tetrachord2 , in which case it was called two "divorced" tercahords or Tetrachord1+tetrachord2+2 in which case it was called two adjoint tetrachords. 1) the Diatonic was balanced feelings (that eventually after more than 1 thousand years resulted to the 7-notes diatonic scale, and a simplified rounding of their tetrcahords to a single one was the 2-2-1 and most probably all permutations of it ) the 2) Chromatic was sad feelings (that eventually after more than 1 thousand years resulted to the 7-notes harmonic minor and double harmonic minor scales, blues scale etc , And a simplified rounding of their tetrachords to a single one was the 3-1-1 nd most probably all permutations of it ) and 3) the enharmonic was happy feelings (all possible major 3rd intervals were usually more than all possible minor 3rd intervals and a simplified rounding to a single one was the 4-(1/2)-(1/2)) and most probably all permutations of it ) and has many similarities with the Japanese 5-notes scales like the Akebono with interval structure 4 - 2 - 1 - 4 - 1 e.g. at the mode 2-1-4-1-4 e.g. A B C E F A. (See e.g. the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv7CO-nVFj8 )

One natural way to derive a hexatonic scale is to require that part ofthe hexatonic scale is either in the pentatonic or in the 7-notes diatonic. Thus here the two versions 2-2-2-1-4-1 and 2-2-2-4-1-1 may be obtained. In notes relevant to the D major scale at appropriate modes are 1) 4-1-2-2-2-1 as D-F#-G-A-B-C#-D and 2) 1-2-2-2-4-1 as A-B-C#-F-F#-G-A
Below are tables of tuning for such harmonicas. The first of them has been called in post 204 the Cretan hexatonic

Still one more hexatonic with rather familiar sound is the 2-2-1-2-4-1, which can be obtained my omiting a note from the 7-notes diatonic scale E.g. C D E F G B C. For the D major scale it would be D E F# G A C# D. Its table is shownbelow when starting from C3. It is an harmonic not to play all possible songs in it (such would be a cyclic tuning one) but to play melodies that are easily accompanied by two only chords the I=1Major, and viidim=7diminished (which sounds like the V7) as all the blow row is the 1major and all the draw ros is the 7diminshed.

THE CASE OF 2-2-1-2-4-1 IS OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE AS IT PRODUCES HAPPY MUSIC

E.G. FOR C MAJOR IT IS C MAJOR-Bdiminished AND IN NOTES C-D-E-F-G-B-C AS IN THE TABLE BELOW.

And there is also the very beatiful 2-2-1-4-2-1 that when tuned at an harmonic gives the Blow-row a minor chord and the draw-row a dimished chord.
Similarly the 2-2-1-2-1-4 or D E F# G A Bb D which can be considered a hexatonic version of the G melodic minor.

Other beatiful such scales that combine the Chromatic with the enharmonic gendre are the
2-1-4-1-3-1. The Blow-row is a major chord and the draw-row another major chord one semitone apart. We give the tuning table below when starting from G3 as Hexatonic _enharmonic_harmonic_minor.

More examples are symmetric hexatonic scales like the 1-1-4-1-1-4, or non-cyclic permutations of them like 4-1-4-1-1-1, and 4-4-1-1-1-1.

I have not checked exactly some similar ideas of Brendan Power for Chinese or Japanese-like tunings of the harmonica, but maybe some tunings might coincide.

Another case is the pair of chords Blow=6m draw=5#dim E.g. in the G minor it is

Blow=G Bb D and Draw=A C F#, thus the hexatonic of the enharmonic gendre 2-1-2-2-4-1.

G A Bb C D F# with the tuning table below

More such scales are the

4-3-1-2-1-1
4-3-1-1-2-1

3-4-1-1-2-1
3-4-1-2-1-1

And even more of them in post 225.

CHROMATIC TUNING

The standard chromatic tuning e.g. for C major scale is

Again this tuning is not complete in all chords of the diatonic scale.
The only advantage of this tuning is that it is periodic per each octave. Nevertheless the costs of itis double
1) There is significant loss in chord completness
2) We must reverse blowing drawng at the last notes 7 , 1 of each octave.

I believe it is better to sucrifice the periodicity per octave and have periodicity per 2octaves and gain
1) Chord completness
2) no reversing of blow-draw at the last pair of each octave.
3) Because during the minimum of 2 octaves the blow-draw properties of the notes reversem there is the possibility of breath-balance by shifting the melodic themes to the adjacent octave.

The next chromatic tuning does have all the chords of the diatonic scale. Furthermore, by not producing sharps for notes 3 and 7 (E and B) which is not necessary for the completeness of chromatic notes, we have additional advantages in the chords.

The strong advantage of harmonica is not single notes but pairs of notes or chords, therefore we cannot ignore the very important issue of chord-completeness in a harmonica that can play solo too. In the case of chromatic harmonica, the optimal tuning for chord completeness is the next, which allows for chords like 3major instead of only 3minor and 7major7 instead of only 7dimished when pushing the slide. In other words besides the full spectrum of 7 chords of the diatonic scale,
1M, 2m , 3m, 4M 5M ,6m , 7dim , we also have, after utilizing the lever at the steps 3 and 7 , also the chords 3M and 7M. which is a very common requirement in pop, jazz , latin and other folk , or classical music, which comes from modulating from the natural minor to the harmonic minor and double harmonic minor.

Curiously enough the scale that is produced by sliding the lever is the dorian mode of the B major scale and not the ionian mode of the C# major scale which is very convenient too as we get two quite often used scales and also a chromatic harmonica at the same instrument

FURTHERMORE a further idea to balance blow and draw breath is to take any tuning diatonic harmonica and make it with a lever with the same exactly notes but pushing the button changes the blow property of a note to a draw one of the same note and vice versa. Here is the example of a C major diatonic harmonica that by utilizing the designer of chromatic one we remain in the same notes of the diatonic but we use the lever of the chromatic harmonica to switch from the blow property of a note to a draw property of the same note and vice versa. Such an harmonic can be played with only blows or only draws too by using the lever. And of course it transfers draw to blow bends and vice versa

And of course we may have a use of the button-lever not for chromatic version of the harmonica, but for jumping in the next octave in a diatonic harmonica

E.g. for a D major diatonic harmonica (cyclic with all the chords) a design of such a button would be the next

HARMONICAS WITH STATIC MOUTHPIECE CONNECTED WITH A FLEXIBLE TUBING WITH SLIDING BLOWING DEVICE MOVED BY THE HAND?

The history of harmonica writes that it was inspired by the Chinese instrument Sheng, which is like a wooden panflute but with one only blowing pipe that distributes the air to many pipes. (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheng_(instrument) ) Actually this may have lead the chinese to make an interesting panflute with a single flexible blowing pipe (as in bag pipes) and a sliding mouthpiece on the row of tubes like in the next link. (e.g.https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3283820 ... b201603_53)

Now this indeed makes the panflute 66% easier and faster to play as I have tried and tested. It is easier to move and slide the blowing-mouthpiece across the tubes, than to move the whole of the panflute across your mouth.

IS THERE A SIMILAR WAY TO APPLY AND PLAY THE HARMONICA?

I believe there is given a smart design and crafting (as many by Brendan Power) . Since harmonicas are good in playing chords , obviously the static mouthpiece must be of at least 3 holes (but not more than 4 holes), and allowing all the techniques , of tongue blocking , lip-blocking , bending, overblowing etc. Then this static mouthpiece will have distribute the air with 3 separate flexible pipes (possibly within one larger) to a sliding blowing device with at least 3 holes again, sliding on the many holes of an harmonica. The sliding blowing device will be moved fast with the hands. It is expected that with such an harmonica some advantages would be

1) You can play faster and learn it faster

2) you can play easier and more accurately, because you see the position of sliding blowing device across the holes of the harmonica

3) The mouth action is simpler and easier , static ,as there is no friction between the harmonica holes and the mouth.

Some disadvantages would be

1) New methods of holding the harmonica and sliding the blowing device must be created.

2) New methods of creating tremolo with the two palms , must be created.

It seems that the idea of sliding blowing device is not new as e.g. it occurs in the ChengGong harmonica (https://www.patmissin.com/gallery/gallery03.html), but the main idea of the ChengGong harmonica is entirely different.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

273. A REMARKABLE IMPROVEMENT OF THE STANDARD 6-STRINGS TUNING OF THE GUITAR . G2-B2-D3-G3-B3-E4 (3M-3m-4-3M-4) 3 INSTRUMENTS IN ONE TUNING. THE UKULELE-BOUZOUKI-PANDURI TUNING

THE UKULELE-BOUZOUKI-PANDURI TUNING

This tuning sometimes is used in the instrument Dobro too (Sliding horizontal guitar).

We apply the 3M-3m-4-3M-4 E.g. G2-B2-D3-G3-B3-E4 (3M-3m-4-3M-4) of the 6-string guitar or 1+6 courses oud.

It is an open E minor 7nth tuning (or G6 major tuning)

The D3-G3-B3-E4 part is a 4-string Greek Bouzouki in G major or a Ukulele

The G2-X-D3-G3 part is a 3-string Greek Bouzouki in Bb major or G major

The C2-G2-D3 is a low tambouras or saz with privileged scale the C major.

AS AN ALTERNATIVE INSTEAD OF UTLIZINGTHE G MAJOR (E MINOR) AS PRIVILEDGED SCALE WE COULD UTILIZE THE Bb MAJOR (G MINOR) AS PRIVILEDGED SCALE WITH THE TUNING

This is best realizable in shorter an 2/3 or 1/2 children guitar :

The F3-Bb3-D3-G4 part is a 4-string Greek Bouzouki or a ukulele in Bb major

The Bb2-X-F3-Bb3 part is a 3-string Greek Bouzouki in Bb major

The Eb2-Bb2-F3 is a low tambouras or saz with privileged scale the Eb major.

Some further advantages of this guitar tuning are

1) At the 4 higher strings all the chord-shapes and chords of the standard guitar can be played without any note missing. Thus we reduce all well-known guitar chord playing in the higher 4-strings

2) Nevertheless, in the lower 3 strings, it plays also the 2-frets triad-chords of 3 strings of a panduri

3) In the 5th 3rd 2nd strings it plays all the tunes of a Greek 3-strong bouzouki, including the isocratic with two strings playing as drone an interval of 5th Thus it combines playing with ancient tunings that require strings tuned at intervals of 5th (melodies orientation) and more modern tunings (chords or harmonic orientation)

4) It is an open minor 7nth or major 6th tuning.

5) It has two intervals of 8th (2nd-5th, and 3rd-1st strings) and one interval of 5th (6th-4th strings) which allows for nice isocratic improvisations.

6) It has chord triads with all 3 inversions in all 4 rows of consecutive strings 1st-2nd-3rd (Aeolian mode) , 2nd-3rd-4th (Ionian mode) , 3rd-4th-5th ( Ionian mode) , 4th-5th-6th (Ionian mode)

We should mention though that this improvement is not as advantageous as the fully melodic-harmonic guitar tuning described in post 90. The only reason we describe the current tuning is that it preserves the 2/3 of the learned guitar on the standard tuning while it allow for more chord triads and advantages described above.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

272. SIMPLISTIC IDEAS THAT ENCOURAGE THE IMPROVISATION IN MELODIES AND HARMONY.

THE KEY-WORD HERE IN THE 4TH GENERATION DIGITAL MUSIC FOR THE MUSICAL-THEORETIC IDEAS OF THIS POST (AS FAR AS MORDEN SOFTWARE FOR MUSIC MAKING IS ) IS MELODY-SEQUENCERS

THE TERM SEQUENCER MEANS HERE A LOOP OR RHYTHMIC CYCLE OF A MELODIC THEME THAT IS VARIATED INTERACTIVELY BY THE USER IN A MELODIC SEQUENCER.

THERE MANY GOOD SOFTWARE PROGRAMS FOR THIS COMPOSITION AND IMPROVISATION LIKE FUGUE MACHINE, YAMAHA MOBILE SEQUENCER, THUMPJAM ETC. ALAO ARPIO AND ARPEGGIONOME FOR GENERAL ARPEGGIOS ALTERNATED WITH MELODIC IMPROVISATIONS

In order to improvise one has to be daring and under the flow of a kind of joy.

The educational system of classical music which is based on reading scores is not appropriate for creating improvisation abilities.

1) BIOWARE WITH SUBCONSCIOUS SINGING ABILITIES IS THE BEST "INSTRUMENT" AND STARTING ABILITY. he most important and also simple idea in melodic improvisation, is that the improvisation must be created at first or at least as well (but usually better than what in an musical instrument) in singing or whistling which will dominate the instrument playing even if later no singing or whistling is heard.
The living bioware is always a better musical instruments than a rigid hardware musical instrument or even digital musical instrument.

1.1) COMPOSITE PRACTICE OF IMPROVISATION , REMIX-ADAPTATION OF A SONG AND INSTRUMENT PLAYING.

This ability can be activated as follows: At first listen for some weeks to nice songs preferably Jazz songs and familiarize with their melodies harmonies and techniques. Start with early jazz which is simpler and utilizes the triads of chords 1-4-5 or 1-2-5 etc.
The preliminary stage of education of the subconscious determines also the speed of creations of emotions and feelings when improvising. It is important that the speed of actual musical improvisation is not faster than the speed of creation and shaping of the emotions and feelings. In different persons it is different speed.
Then listen them with one only earphone, leaving the other ear open and sing or whistle parallel to the melodies of the song, inspired or stimulated on the occasion of the written and listened song. The whistling improvisation may nevertheless deviate not only from the listened melodies but also from the listened chords and harmony, if the feelings require so. This is an important factor of the improvisation as melodic or harmonic "errors" in whistling a melody most often turn out to be improvements of the melody based on our own memories of nice melodies and inclinations in the feelings. General rules that two parallel melodies fit harmonically together as described in post 128, require only that the number of intervals of 3rd, 4th 5th and 8th are more than 50% compared to intervals of 2nds. In addition alternating with this whistling or singing we may play on a desired instrument similar melodies. Depending on the acquired skill on the instrument, the improvisation may be poorer or same rich as the whistling. Furthemore instead of only listening to the song, if opened in a software like Audacity where its chords can be found and displayed below the waveform, we see also the underlying chords and we learn to associate the whistling or instrument playing ofthe melodies with the underlying chord progression. We keep doing it not only soa s to get pleasure but also to improve improvisation and playing skill on the prefered instruments.

The speed of conducting the improvisation may be increased if while we improvise we pretend that there is a mandarin (fruit) flying a few centimeters above the top of our head and we look and listen and conduct the improvisation from that point in air or aether rather than from our hands or mouth. The area above the top of the head is an aether center that our soul and spiritual existence is often utilizing.

The central idea is of course that the versatility of improvising on many musical instruments is based on the ability to internalize and perceive mentally and emotionally the musical sound and improvise rather than the ability of concentrating separately to technical skill of geometric patterns of playing for each particular instrument And one of the simplest ways to perceive musically harmonically , melodically and chromatically, all the universe of the 12-notes is the chromatic tonality (as in post 263) (see post 258 that improvisation is at least at 2/3rds an internal feelings and intellect meditation process rather independent from the musical instrument played! The 2/3ds are of course the mental perception of the musical sound and the feelings-emotional perception of the musical sound, and not the geometric instruments pattern of the musical playing! And one of the simplest ways to perceive musically all the universe of the 12-notes is the chromatic tonality (as in post 263) ).

2) CONVERGENT SEQUENCES OF NOTES TO MELODIC CENTERS: It helps a lot for the improvisation of melodies to have the idea of STEPWISE GLISSANDO in the sense of scanning all notes in pitch linear order sequence of the scale that the instrument is tuned, so as to find the one that you will stay longer (melodic center as note of the simplicial sub-melody) or even correct to the melodic center if the melody is somehow already known. Instruments like piano, Celtic harp, or diatonic pan-flute are very helpful in this. The guitar or other string instruments with fingerboard (fiddle) or fretboard with the usual tunings are not much helpful in this but they are helpful in chromatic stepwise glissando. Exception is the 3-strings fretboards with tuning open major chord (e.g, Panduri, Bouzouki, Lyra see posts 252, 254 , 264) that there is the same easiness: The 2nd and 3rd voice of the melody can be played in the 3 strings and the melody of 1-2 octaves most often can be played in one only of the 3 strings! While in classical music's melodies the central entity is the melodic theme in improvisational music melodies the central concepts seem to be "convergent sequence of notes to a melodic center or note o t he simplicial sub-melody" Of Course the melodic center or note of the simplicial melody is a note sounding much more time that the neighboring notes.

3)THREE TYPES OF VARIATIONS: TRANSLATION, INVERSION EXPANSION. A 2nd simple idea in melody improvisation is that of the 3 types of variation: 1) translation b) inversion 3) contraction/expansion. The translation is to repeat the same melodic theme lower or higher in the scale. once or many times. This may involve deforming the exact intervals of the theme, but it creates a sense of repetition and at the same time of changes. The inversion is to make the ascending melodic theme descending but same pattern theme and vice versa. Again this may involve distorting the theme. The inversion makes the sad happy and vice-versa. Finally the expansion/contraction is the idea that chromatic intervals (2nds of 1 or 2 semitones) will create a kind of chromatic dissonance and tension, the melodic intervals (3rds major or minor) will create a sense of melodic feeling, and larger harmonic intervals of 4th, 5th of 8th a feeling of harmony. The simple idea is to wave sadness and joy or serenity and anxiety by waving from short size intervals to larger type of intervals and vice-versa. The theme itself contracts or expands as we substitute its intervals of 5th/4th with 3rd or 2nd and vice versa.The guitar or other string instruments with fingerboard (fiddle) or fretboard are helpful in this idea .

4) HARMONIC CYCLES For the harmony and in improvising at the level of chord progressions, the corresponding idea is a linear order of chords (major/minor) in sequential harmonic relation ,in other words that their roots are consecutive notes in the cycle by intervals of 4th. Given a melody in a diatonic scale or in chromatic tonality of a diatonic scale, when improvising almost randomly with chords, there is also a similar idea of stepwise glissando by chords either in diatonic pitch linear order of the roots or in the harmonic progression of their roots by 4ths ,which latter is quite faster than the diatonic stepwise glissando, especially when we are searching for the major chord (or minor chord) among the 3 in a diatonic scale that fits the current state of the melody. Once the right root or middle of the chord is found we tweak to major or minor (sometimes diminished or augmented) till it fits well to the melody.

Other simple ideas to compose chord progressions involve the harmonic triad of major chords in a diatonic scale 1-4-5 and also the chords of a diatonic scale as enhanced by chromatic tonality (see post 263) Other simple ideas involve triads of harmonic pairs of chords in various relations like chromatic , melodic harmonic.

IMPROVISATION METHOD BASED ON A SET OF CHORDS AND MELODIC LINES BRIDGING THE HIGHEST NOTES OF EACH OF THEM. APPLICATION WITH STRUMMING WITH CUATRO, CAVAQUINHO, UKULELE , HARMONICA VIOLIN, WINDS ETC

The application idea is that when the chord is realized with a voicing on the highest 4 (or all 4) strings , we create melodic lines on the highest string bridging the highest notes of two succesive chords. Because of a inherent phenomenon of the human sound perception , when we are strumming and chaning the chords with in-between such melodic lines, the musical perception clearaly heres a melody, which is that of the highest notes. If it was not the highest notes the melodic lines would be more often lost in listening in the strumming.
Such chord-bridging melodic lines use a last small part of the previous chord duration and a small initial part of the new chord duration. During the rest ofthe time there is strumming of the chord or a achord arpeggio or variations of small melodic themes inside the chord by intervals of 3rd or 4th/5th. Thus melodic-harmonic variaonions. While when bridging two succesive chords there may be melodic themes variations by intervals of 2nd 3rd or 4th/5th (thus chromatic-melodic-harmonic).
This technique utilizes the simplicity of the information of the set of chord and translates it it to a simple information about the partition of the types of variations of simple melodic themes with the time placement and duration of the chords.
With this technique we may create simplicial counter-melodies parallel to melody.

It applies verty easily when utilizing a chromatic harmonica (see post 274), but also a violin (especially marked at a particular diatonic scale, so that we can identify chord-triad shapes on it after a convenient tuning) and finally also on a diatonic wind.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

271. HOW SOMEONE COULD POSSIBLY LEARN MANY INSTRUMENTS SIMULTANEOUSLY? UTILIZING THE SIMPLICIAL COUNTER-MELODY IMPROVISATION SYSTEM

HOW SOMEONE COULD POSSIBLY LEARN MANY INSTRUMENTS SIMULTANEOUSLY?
UTILIZING THE SIMPLICIAL COUNTER-MELODY IMPROVISATION SYSTEM

By watching the Carling family one cannot by admire how each of its members play many musical instruments and all together have a wonderful early Jazz band with which they improvise and adapt many famous songs. (http://www.gunhildcarling.net/about/carling-family/ )

I once watched a video by someone speaking many (4-5 or more ) languages , about how he practices learning them simultaneously. What he was doing was quite simple. He was choosing a few mundane tasks during his everyday life e.g. dressing after getting up in the morning from his bed, or siting to eat for lunch or dinner etc. Then he started describing what he was doing in his mother language and he right away was repeating the same phrases in each of his many languages that he was learning. This in total was not more than 15 minutes per day, but it might involve also some searching of new words or phrases!

This case is an example of a principle where it is proved that the method of learning something is more important than the object of learning itself.

Brilliant examples as we mentioned of musicians that play many musical instruments (from 5-6 to 10-12 musical instruments) is the Caling family. Ecah mamber of this family plays at least 5-6 musical instruments, and Gunhild Carling (https://www.gunhildcarling.net/)is playing 10-12 musical instruments.

Obviously this also proves that the method of learning many musical instruments is radically different from the traditional in Scolls of music and Universities.
And by this we do not mainly mean that the technique is different.

When learning a musical instruments five areas of the human subjectivity are involved

1) The sense of hearing
2) The sense of seing
3) The kineasthetics of the fingers (fingering) and/or the mouth (embouchure)
4) The feelings and emotinal percepton of the music
5) The mental images and intellectual perception of the music (musical ontology)

So when we say radically different method we mean that the combination of the previous 5 factors is radically different

The next are 5 principles that are involved in learning many musical instruments

1) Principle of least time of playing while learning
2) Principle of most easy method as far as the memory and spending energy in practice of fingers/mouth is concerned
3) Principle of most smart intellectually perception of the learning material desired to learn with the maximum number of relevant cross-correlations beteen them.
4) Principle of maximum pleasure while learning (so that serotonin and dopamine arecreated in the nervous system so as t have the creation of nerve synapses that is the subconsious ability and memory and desire for more learning)
5) Principle of optimal socialization of the process of learning.

Under the above principles it is derived that for a musician that is playing many musical instruments it holds that
(see also post 275, 128)

FOR MUSIC:

1) Each instrument is NOT used so as to play all possible melodies and songs. Instead it is used and it is learned only as far as this instrument is specializing to allow playing an area and type of music that with the other musical instruments is not done so easily , efficiently and desirebly. There are though among the many insyruments at least one wich can be used the musician to play all possible melodies or songs. But most of the many instruments is learned and played only in the area and specialization which is concidered best (e.g. a cello might be learned to play only bass lines at the 2nd octave and a trombone overtones improvisations only in the 2nd-3rd octave)

2) At least one midi controller is used that can emulate all 3 generations of musical instruments (see post 329, chromatic, diatonic,overtones musical instruments) and helps to learn but also to conduct the music of all other musical instruments.

3) The musician is focusing in learning a repertoire of music and songs with its musical theoretical ontology rather, than particular instruments. Thus when learning and spent some hours per day or week we learn a new song, and we learn its harmony (chord progression) melody and parallel simplicial counter melody (bass lines) etc on many instruments one after the other rather than spending these hours on particular instrument. In this way the same hours spent for the musical ontology of a song (chords, melody, countermelody, bass lines, rhythm etc) will be used for learning more than one instruments, This reduces dramatically the memory and time spent in learning and shifts the subconcious memory to the abstract musical ontology rather than particular material particularities of the instrument which is more spiritual , and which memory and time is utilized for all instruments simulteneously. (see also post 271)

4) It is by far more efficient when learning to utilize improvisation rather than tedious practice excercizes from musical sheets, for many raesons. One is that the improvisation is forgiving in "mistakes" that turnout to be innovations in melodic improvisation. Another reason is that it activates more deeply the various nervous system centers that are relevant to the 5 subjectivity areas mentioned previously, therefore it is more thorough learning. Still another rason is that improvisation is more pleasant than tedious excercises of practing therefore we have more serotonine-dopamine inthe nervous system, which are utilized in creating new nerve synapses valuable in the subconcious memory and desire for more learning in the future.

If someone knows one instrument better among the instruments who wants to learn, then an obviously useful technique is to learn well a song on the instrument that he knows best , and then transfer it and learn it on the instruments that he knows less well. In other words we use at first the musical instrument that we know best so as to learn a song and focus on learning the abstract instagible musical theoretic ontology of the song (harmony, chords, melody morphology of the melody etc) and then apply this music theoretical knowledge and subconscious feeling on learning it on an other particular instrument that we know less well.

5) Classification of all instruments to 3 gentres according to their layouts of the notes for simplified and simple method of perception: a) Diatonic b) Chromatic c) overtoves. See also post 329.

Now one could imagine a similar process in learning many instruments at the same time For example let us take

0) A percussion instrument
1) A Guitar or ukulele
2) A Celtic Harp
3) A Bowed string instrument like Greek Lyra (or fiddle)
4) A diatonic Pan-Flute
5) A single tube wind with the fingering system 6+1. E.g. Irish whistle, flute , or reed instrument like clarinet saxophone , duduk, chalumeau etc

Such a process might most probably be very close to how the children and members of the carling family learned each one all of the instruments they play. The central idea is of course that the versatility of playing many musical instruments is based on the ability to internalize and perceive mentally and emotionally the musical sound and improvise rather than the ability of concentrating separately to technical skill of geometric patterns of playing for each particular instrument And one of the simplest ways to perceive musically harmonically , melodically and chromatically, all the universe of the 12-notes is the chromatic tonality (as in post 263) (see post 258 that improvisation is at least at 2/3rds an internal feelings and intellect meditation process rather independent from the musical instrument played! The 2/3ds are of course the mental perception of the musical sound and the feelings-emotional perception of the musical sound, and not the geometric instruments pattern of the musical playing! And one of the simplest ways to perceive musically all the universe of the 12-notes is the chromatic tonality (as in post 263) ). Thinking that he must learn 5 (or more ) instruments simultaneously may appear discouraging, but thinking that he just have to play and improvise on a sequence of nice musical sound of very joyful songs with 5 instruments is by far more attractive and desirable idea.

Here in the next video, the guitar teacher explains why it is simpler for the human nervous system to concentrate on the mental and emotional perception of the musical sound rather than on the geometric patterns of playing the particular instrument.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iacQvKMSx6A

We recall from the ntroduction of this online book that a detailed approach of the relevant nervous centers in playing music are the next 5 nervous system centers that are involved when playing music

MENTAL
1) THE MENTAL IMAGES OFTHE ONTOLOGY OF MUSIC (NOTES, SCALES, INTERVALS, CHORDS, ETC)
PHYSICAL
2) THE SOUNDS OF THE EAR IN THE SENSE OF LISTENING
3) THE IMAGES OF THE EYE IN THE SENSE OF SEING (E.G. OBSERVING THE FINGERS ON THE MUSICALINSTRUMENT OR THE MOVES OF DANCER). Some musical instrument do not have optical images e.g. he harmonica playing.
4) THE KINESTHETIC CENTER OF THE ACTIONS OF THE FINGERS ON THE INSTRUMENT AND THE BREATH IN THE CASE OF WIND INSTRUMENTS
EMOTIONAL:
5) THE FEELINGS CREATED BY THE LISTENED MUSICAL SOUND IN REALTION ALSO TO MEMORIES AND LISTENING HABITS.

Learning the same song on many instruments, would mean that 3) images and 4) action of the fingers will change from instrument to instrument, but the triad
1) Mental musical ontology 2) Sounds of the ear ontology 5) Feelings remain the almost the same!

So a daily or weekly process could be nowadays as follows:

1) Chose in youtube a nice and happy song that you would like to listen and play. Better be happy rather than sad , as such a learning should raise our bodily frequency and should be laso a learning of how to be happy within the good joy (not the bad joy). E.g. it might be an early jazz song like those that the carling family are playing and enjoying. If we do not want to start with a known song in youtube, he may start by playing and recording in Audacity a rhythm by a percussion instrument, and then use this as a base.

2) Derive an mp3 file from the youtube-video, and analyze it with the free software Audacity (or a similar) to verify by its chords that it is a chromatic tonality music song (see post 263 )

3) Try singing its melody (improvisationally) or whistle (improvisationally) its melody. THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP IN LEARNING ALL THE INSTRUMENTS SIMULTANEOUSLY.

3.1) COMPOSITE PRACTICE OF IMPROVISATION AND INSTRUMENT PLAYING.

This ability can be activated as follows: At first listen for some weeks to nice songs preferably Jazz songs and familiarize with their melodies harmonies and techniques. Start with early jazz which is simpler and utilizes the triads of chords 1-4-5 or 1-2-5 etc.
The preliminary stage of education of the subconscious determines also the speed of creations of emotions and feelings when improvising. It is important that the speed of actual musical improvisation is not faster than the speed of creation and shaping of the emotions and feelings. In different persons it is different speed.

3.2) Besides trying to whistle the melody , it can be tried to whistle a simplicial coutermelody of the melody (see post 289)

Listen them with one only earphone, leaving the other ear open and sing or whistle parallel to the melodies of the song, inspired or stimulated on the occasion of the written and listened song. The whistling improvisation may nevertheless deviate not only from the listened melodies but also from the listened chords and harmony, if the feelings require so. This is an important factor of the improvisation as melodic or harmonic "errors" in whistling a melody most often turn out to be improvements of the melody based on our own memories of nice melodies and inclinations in the feelings. General rules that two parallel melodies fit harmonically together as described in post 128, require only that the number of intervals of 3rd, 4th 5th and 8th are more than 50% compared to intervals of 2nds. In addition alternating with this whistling or singing we may play on a desired instrument similar melodies. Depending on the acquired skill on the instrument, the improvisation may be poorer or same rich as the whistling. Furthemore instead of only listening to the song, if opened in a software like Audacity where its chords can be found and displayed below the waveform, we see also the underlying chords and we learn to associate the whistling or instrument playing of the melodies with the underlying chord progression. We keep doing it not only so as to get pleasure but also to improve improvisation and playing skill on the prefered instruments.

The speed of conducting the improvisation may be increased if while we improvise we pretend that there is a mandarin (fruit) flying a few centimeters above the top of our head and we look and listen and conduct the improvisation from that point in air or aether rather than from our hands or mouth.

3.3) We may also record the whistling in the computer, while we listen in one only earphone and in one ear, the parallel song from the mobile or another computer. This may create an entereily new song and new melody and even different chord progression inspired and stimulated by the initial parallel song. That is why a more likable way of the whistling melody should not be considred as a "mistake" but as a more likable melody of a new song, inspired from the initial.

4) Start with the best known instrument or easiest instrument that here we will assume that it is the guitar or ukulele. Play its chords rhythmically and improvise melodically whistling or singing simultaneously. We may also try to whistle a simplicial counter-melody as the song is playing in the computer (See post 289 about the simplicial counter-melody)

5) Go one with the second best known or easy to play instrument that here we will assume that it is the Celtic harp. Make sure that the Celtic harp (which is a diatonic instrument ) is tuned at the right central diatonic scale of the song Usually Bb, or F , or G , or C etc Play the chord and improvise the melody with the right hand . Alternate chords and melody with the right hand. The melodic improvisation could be very close to the whistling improvisation. Use the left hand for an isocratic bass line based on simple 2-voices harmony (usually an interval of 3rd). It could even be the power-5 chord ofthe scale. Or it could be just one note per pentachord or tetrachord at the bass area.

6) Proceed with the next easier instrument that here we will assume it is the bowed instrument ( 3-strings metric or fretted lyra, see post 264) . Make sure that it is tuned at the right scale (Bb or F etc) and play the triad chords on it improvising melodically a rather random arpeggio with the bow staying longer in particular ote that are the centers of the melody (simplicial submelody). Try to emulate your improvisational whistling with the bowed melodic improvisation.

7) Go on with the next easiest instrument that we will assume here it is the pan-flute. Chose a pan-flute tuned at this scale (e.g. Bb or F etc) and improvise melodically. Try to emulate your whistling improvisation with the pan-flute.

8) Finally proceed with the single tube wind, which could be an Irish whistle or a quena, or a chalumeau,or a duduk-like wind or a clarinet , saxophone etc. Make sure it is one in the same scale (Bb, F etc) . Try to emulate your whistling improvisation with the pan-flute.

9) Maybe one particular day he did not have time to repeat this process of improvisation for all 5 types of instruments but say only for 2, or 3. Still a next time it will be all 5 types! If he feels comfortable and satisfied with the result, he records the improvisational playing separately each one upon the previous in Audacity to produce a sound file. Elaborate a bit and on the recording and maybe correct some volume, timing or even pitch imperfections. The idea is to be excellent in creativity , learning and enjoyment rather in formal perfection. Then publish it in youtube or facebook in a group of well meaning favourable friends, if you feel so, or simple keep it in your databases.

10) The above process 3)- 9) can a ply by not starting with a known song in youtube, but by free improvisation directly from our emotional subconscious, and may use all 5 types of instruments or only some of them, still all the instruments for the same piece of music.
If we do not want to start with a known song in youtube, he may start by playing and recording in Audacity a rhythm by a percussion instrument, and then use this as a base.
The way that an improvisation not based on a played song can be composed is with various methods:

AS IS THE CASE WITH ORGANIZATION STRUCTURES OF VARIOUS ORDERS OF DEPTH LIKE MUSIC AND ITS ORGANIZATION, THE IMPROVISATION CAN BE AT

THE LOWEST LEVEL: 1) MELODIC ONLY (start with winds, or harp ar guitar , ukulele, with this order see e.g. post 266, 224)

AT A LOW LEVEL : 2) 2-VOICES OR PAIRS OF SIMULTANEOUS NOTES IMPROVISATION , (mainly harp but also guitar, ukulele, E.g. see posts 260 ,82)

AT A MIDDLE LEVEL: 3) CHORDS AND MELODY IMPROVISATION (Harp, or guitar , ukulele, e.g.see post 9 . Of course the closest to happy early Jazz songs is to use triads of major chords and in particular 1-4-5 of the Bb or F major scale, and then extend them possibly with chromatic tonality . See post 263 ).

AND AT A HIGH LEVEL : 4) MORPHOLOGICAL REPETITIONS PATTERNS OF PARTS OF THE PIECE IMPROVISATION (on any instrument e.g. see post 203, 201)

I believe the most successful order is to start with the chords, and in particular a triad of major chords and in particular 1-4-5 of the Bb or F major scale, and then extend them possibly with chromatic tonality as in post 263 with minor, diminished and augmented chords but not more than 1/3 of the total time and only if the whistling improvisation suggests it. The next simple idea in improvisational harmony is an harmonic linear progression of major/minor chords by intervals of 4ths. Then improvise fully by singing or whistling melodies on them and pass this whistling gradually to the rest of the instruments.

The improvisation of each instrument with the chosen order, starting from the rhythm of the percussion instrument, is recorded (e.g. in Audacity) , and the next instruments are played at first live with a background from the speakers or earphones (like karaoke) from the previously recorded instruments, and then are recorded also with the rest of the recorded instruments. The final result as an .mp3 or .wav file is it is liable and satisfying is published a group friends or simply kept in nono-publishing data bases.

If he is lucky he might find some friends and try a group improvisation where he is playing in sequence some of the instruments he is learning or practising.

We remind here why in learning simultaneously many instruments it is by far better the improvisation method than reading a musical score.

THE ADVANTAGES OF IMPROVISING A MELODY VERSUS PLAYING A MELODY

PLAYING THE MELODY

DISADVANTAGES: 1) No sufficient space to interpolate your own feelings parallel to the melody
2) Rigid stereotypic repetition , that the slightest deviation will cause the feeling of an "error" or "bad sound". This will create fear and will "slauter" the "wings" to add your own "signature" to the melody. It will stop also and suppress the ability to compose your own melodies.

ADVANTAGES: 1) You do not have to involve much of your emotions and creativity , after learning it it seems easier to repeat it each time and if the melody is played correctly it is expected by the audience to to appreciate it.

IMPROVISING THE MELODY:

ADVANTAGES:1) Plenty of free space to interpolate your own feelings parallel to the melody
2) No rigid stereotypic repetition , each time played it is somehow different . The randomness of the decorative notes of the improvisation allows for searching the appropriate melodic center that corresponds to the intended emotion or for gradual correcting till the melodic center of the original melody is found (in the scale stepwise glissando as default movements) This will create an euphoria of abundance of creativity and will multiply the ability to compose your own melodies in later times.

DISADVANTAGES: 1) It requires listening to your own mood (or the mood of the audience) when improvising the melody, and there is always the risk that the current version of the improvisation of the melody is not good enough compared maybe to previous improvisations or that the audience will not appreciate it enough as you appreciate it when your are improvising it.

IN OVER ALL IT IS OBVIOUS THAT IMPROVISING A MELODY IS BY FAR MORE ADVANTAGEOUS THAN JUST PLAYING THE MELODY.

Here is a summary of an improvisation method by the simplicial counter-melody of a song as in post 289.

A practice that would implement the above in easier way is

1) Download the song as an mp3 file , then open it in Audacity, and utilize its function of finding the chords.

2) We look at the chord progression and try to identify the main diatonic scale , from which it may deviate chtomatically.

3) Then we choose the appropriate instrument that may diatonic at this scale or even chromatic. It may be a wind instrument like harmonica, flute, clariphone sax etc or it may be a bowed instrument like violin , metric-lyra celo-lyra (see post 264) or other stings instruments like cuatro, guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, mandola, etc.

4) At first we whistle the simplicial counter-melody while the song is playing.

5) Then we repeat the whistling simplicial counter-melody with the chosen instrument

6) If we are multi-intrument player, we rotate the instruments from the easiest to the more demanding (e.g. harmonica, then celtic harp, then chinese panflute, then marked scale cuatro, then fretted-lyra , then straight flute, then clariphone or sax etc) playing similar simplicial counter-melodies for this song. If we do that we try to identify ourself the with the simplicial counter-melody and consider that we actually we laer a simplicial counter-melody for thsi song rtaher than that we learn the particular instrument that we play).

SIMPLISTIC IDEAS THAT ENCOURAGE IN IMPROVISATION IN MELODIES AND HARMONY.

(See also post 263 . 270 and 83. A SCALE OF CHORDS ORIENTED IMPROVISATION METHOD VERSUS SCALE OF NOTES OR CHORDS OF A SCALE.)

In order to improvise one has to be daring and under the flow of a kind of joy.

The educational system of classical music which is based on reading scores is not appropriate for creating improvisation abilities.

1) THE BIOWARE WITH SUBCONSCIOUS SINGING ABILITIES IS THE BEST "INSTRUMENT" AND STARTING ABILITY. he most important and also simple idea in melodic improvisation, is that the improvisation must be created at first or at least as well (but usually better than what in an musical instrument) in singing or whistling which will dominate the instrument playing even if later no singing or whistling is heard.
The living bioware is always a better musical instruments than a rigid hardware musical instrument or even digital musical instrument.

The central idea is of course that the versatility of improvising on many musical instruments is based on the ability to internalize and perceive mentally and emotionally the musical sound and improvise rather than the ability of concentrating separately to technical skill of geometric patterns of playing for each particular instrument And one of the simplest ways to perceive musically harmonically , melodically and chromatically, all the universe of the 12-notes is the chromatic tonality (as in post 263) (see post 258 that improvisation is at least at 2/3rds an internal feelings and intellect meditation process rather independent from the musical instrument played! The 2/3ds are of course the mental perception of the musical sound and the feelings-emotional perception of the musical sound, and not the geometric instruments pattern of the musical playing! And one of the simplest ways to perceive musically all the universe of the 12-notes is the chromatic tonality (as in post 263) ).

3)THREE TYPES OF VARIATIONS: TRANSLATION, INVERSION EXPANSION. A 2nd simple idea in melody improvisation is that of the 3 types of variation: 1) translation b) inversion 3) contraction/expansion. The translation is to repeat the same melodic theme lower or higher in the scale. once or many times. This may involve deforming the exact intervals of the theme, but it creates a sense of repetition and at the same time of changes. The inversion is to make the ascending melodic theme descending but same pattern theme and vice versa. Again this may involve distorting the theme. The inversion makes the sad happy and vice-versa. Finally the expansion/contraction is the idea that chromatic intervals (2nds of 1 or 2 semitones) will create a kind of chromatic dissonance and tension, the melodic intervals (3rds major or minor) will create a sense of melodic feeling, and larger harmonic intervals of 4th, 5th of 8th a feeling of harmony. The simple idea is to wave sadness and joy or serenity and anxiety by waving from short size intervals to larger type of intervals and vice-versa. The guitar or other string instruments with fingerboard (fiddle) or fretboard are helpful in this idea .