Why I Don't Practice With a Chromatic Harmonica

 

 

I have very little experience with using a chromatic harmonica. I have purchased two chromatic harmonicas in the Key of C Major, 12 holes, 48 tones/notes, in the past. I have considerable experience with diatonic harmonicas.

After playing the chromatic harmonica for a year, after studying, learning, and using the different layouts for blow/draw notes/holes (Richter vs Solo), after listening to the different sound of the diatonic and chromatic, after sensing the different feel of the size and shape of these two types of harmonicas, and after experimenting with the slide, etc.; I've come to a conclusion. I have decided to focus on playing, learning, and advancing my musical skills in using only a diatonic harmonica.

I have decided not to play a chromatic harmonica anymore. Why?

All chromatics are much larger and heavier than a diatonic. They are considerably less portable than a Hohner Thunderbird or Hohner Rocket diatonic. Most good chromatics have 12 or 16 holes, and diatonics have 10 holes. A typical chromatic is not a carry in your pocket anywhere harmonica, they are more a carry in your backpack musical instrument.

A chromatic, in my opinion, does not play chords as well as a diatonic harmonica.

If you can't manage the chromatic's slide well, then a chromatic can sound really bad. A diatonic is more forgiving of mistakes.

I do enjoy experimenting with a wider ranges of notes/sounds available on the chromatic harmonica vs a diatonic harmonica (48 notes vs 20 notes without bends or overblows); however, I find that using my decent electronic MIDI keyboard offers vastly more experimental options for an adventuresome sound explorer.

Good chromatic harmonicas are typically more expensive than good diatonic harmonicas. Some good chromatic models cost from $150.00 - $250.00 or more. A decent diatonic harmonica can be purchased for under $50.00.

Both chromatic and diatonic harmonicas are available in a variety of different keys, both in standard and low tuned. However, most good chromatics come in the Key of C Major. And, with a higher degree of skill, you can play in many keys on one C Major Key chromatic. However, in my opinion, it is just far easier to play a diatonic in the key you want to play, rather than mastering playing in different keys on one chromatic harmonica.

It is easier to bend or overblow on a diatonic harmonica, rather than on a chromatic without using the slider. Seems to me that the degree and control of notes with bends and overblows, excluding slider functions, is more capable of refinement on a diatonic.

Chromatics are favored by classical and jazz harmonica musicians. Diatonics are favored by blues, rock, folk, and country musicians. I play tunes I enjoy the most being played on a diatonic harmonica.

Using the chromatic slider properly is a refined skill requiring considerable practice, and adds another challenging layer of refined learning and practice demands for typical home solo players.

In is far easier to us a variety of cupping techniques on a diatonic, rather than on the larger chromatic.

Shifting between chromatic and diatonic versions can be confusing for beginners like me. Better to focus on playing just one type of musical instrument. I chose the diatonic harmonica.

 

 

I own a EastTop Forerunner Chromatic Harmonica in the Key of C Major LOW. 12 Holes, 48 Tones, Chromatic Mouth Organ Harmonica, $125.00. VSCL.

I own a EastTop Forerunner Chromatic Harmonica in the Key of C Major. 12 Holes, 48 Tones, Chromatic Mouth Organ Harmonica, $52.00. VSCL.

 

Chromatic Harmonica in the Key of C Major

 

 

Positive Psychology and Secular Ethics: Good Reads

Lately, I have been reading for many hours each day as I recover and heal my knee from my fall last Sunday (10 Sep 2023).  Here are some of the better books I have read:

The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time, Do Everything Better.  By Thatcher Wine. Little Brown Spark, 2021, index, notes, 263 pages.  VSCL, Hardbound + FVRLibrary.

If you want good ideas, tips, techniques, exercises, and methods for enabling yourself to focus, concentrate, and fully engage yourself in specific tasks in your daily life then read: "The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time, Do Everything Better" by Thatcher Wine, 2021. He gives specific recommendations for "monotasking" in the areas of reading, walking, listening, sleeping, eating, travel, learning, teaching, playing, seeing, creating, and thinking. A fine book in positive psychology!

Secular Faith: How Culture Has Trumped Religion in American Politics.  By Mark A. Smith.  University of Chicago Press, 2015, index, notes, 287 pages. FVRLibrary.

A sociological and historical study about how the secular society in America has moved away from traditional religious anti-progressive and oppressive values regarding slavery, divorce, homosexuality, abortion, and women's rights.  A very good analysis and careful research into how the Christian religion supported slavery, rejected divorce, persecuted homosexuals, rejected birth control, and treated women unfairly and denied women rights; and how secular compromises changed our views and laws regarding these issues and practices in American society over the past three centuries. A respect for individual liberties, rights, and freedom are more popular in American secular culture in 2023. For example, despite the Moral Majority, Christian Coalition, and fundamentalist "family values" agendas in the ongoing Culture Wars; all States now have "no-fault" divorce options, and these religious groups these days place a low priority on trying to restrict or make divorce illegal or persecute divorcees, as they did in the past.

The Existentialist's Survival Guide;  How to Live Authentically in an Inauthentic Age. By Gordon Marino. Harper One, 2018, bibliography, notes, 260 pages. FVRLibrary.

A philosopher and librarian and boxer digs deeply into real life issues such as anxiety, depression, despair, death, authenticity, faith, morality, and love.  Strong on Kierkegaard and similar authors. Hope, courage, and honesty but little emphasis of facile happiness. Existentialism has a gloomy demeanor, and life can be very gloomy.

Being and Nothingness: An Essay in Phenomenological Ontology. By Jean-Paul Sartre.  Translated by Sarah Richmond.  Washington Square Press, 1943, 2018, bibliography, index, 853 pages.  VSCL, Paperback. 

This complicated, obtuse, lengthy, difficult, and noted book will take me four months to read and study.  I have read a number of essays and fictional books by Sartre, and studied him in college in 1964, but have never challenged myself to study his magnum opus until 2023.  I'm not sure if I am up to understanding his complex views in my old age, but I will try.