I've been trying to get this one right, but I don't know if I ever will... Wilf at the Harp Surgery has tabbed out Horn Concerto No.4 in Eb Major (Rondo Allegro Vivace), written by some dude called Mozart.
I think that we all might benefit from working on non-blues stuff; it forces you to work like crazy on bending 'accurately'; no allowances for taking liberties on the three draw.
tooka,
Good luck with the Alla Turka - in the Turkish style, me thinks. Listen to Glen Gould's phrasing in that piece. He plays it much slower than most do, and makes it work all the more fore it.
Thanks Mickil, it's one of my favourites and the version you posted is just great. The girl next door used to play it regularly and just lately it's been used in a radio advert so I got inspired to give it a go. ----------
cool! I've been dying to try my own version of the second movement from Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem (Behold All Flesh Is As The Grass). It starts in Bb minor, but it changes to Gb, and back, and then changes to Bb major. THAT would be a challenge. Its really a great piece...though its a choral work so horns aren't necessarily the predominant feature but I don't that is preventative in any way if you just follow the melody. I'm definitely gonna take a crack at this though.
Last Edited by on Oct 14, 2009 3:45 AM
Tookatooka, I've spent about three weeks on Fur Elise, now moving on and just started on Turca. I've got the sheet music for it, it's hard to get it just right. Fur Elise sounds simple enough, but there's all this subtle stuff going on, Turca is way more complicated than that. Might take me a while. I also want to start doing the Pilgrim's Chorus from Tannhauser... just need to get some music.
this is how we play Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca in West Virginia... ala Johnny Staats, of Jackson County, W.Va.:
---------- www.elkriverharmonicas.com
Last Edited by on Oct 13, 2009 9:43 PM
I've heard Liberace playing the rondo on a harpsichord, which I think was the instrument for which it was written.
This is Dennis Brain, one of the best horn players ever, who died in a car crash in 1957. I couldn't find anything of him playing the Mozart, but it's a great demonstration of an instrument of 200 years ago:
Oh, all right, there's this:
---------- Bollocks, Wiglaf!
Last Edited by on Oct 14, 2009 1:27 AM
I played that mozart sonata when I was younger. I think it would be exceedingly difficult on harp. Scale passages, anyone?
On a similar note I've been tying to put together 'whiskey before breakfast' on harp, and while not similar in feel, is similar to those mozart pieces in that your going to be playing scales runs that use the 5OB quite often, and often when coming from 6B. Kinda tough.
I started learning Fur Elise in 3rd position, and got bored with it very quickly. I love to listen to the song, just wasn't my thing to play it on the harp. Eventually I just modidfied the ending of the second verse so I could blend it into "Smoke on the Water." People love that shit when you play it on a harp.
I must admit, it's very challenging to elevate this above mere novelty status. The mixed reaction on this forum at Buddy Greene's (?) version of the William Tell Overture is evidence of that.
I don't think I could move it on past novelty status. Although I will try to learn some of it, I'd really only ever pull it out of the bag to try and impress and then I'd only do a few bars of it. The commitment to learn it all is too much when I know I'd rarely play it all the way through. ----------
Yes I agree novelty status is where it belongs. There are far more familiar classics that are relatively simple to play (difficult to master) that are more my bag.
I would love to play the William Tell Overture ie at even quarter the speed of Buddy Greene. I have the tabs and its not difficult but its just the speed and for an oldie the same applies to fast blues pieces like Whammer Jammer & Juke. So I like to stick with something a bit slower.
phogi> don't know what you are on about re overblows on 'Whiskey Before Breakfast' ie where? When I learnt it ,some time back, it didnt present any overblows. Tell me where they are and when I get my new Manji I will be able to attempt.
I learnt 'Whiskey Before Breakfast' from Tony Eyers at Harmonica Academy ie this version:-
Aussie sucker>, I believe that guy is playing on a country tuned harp. I don't have one, so the C# (5 ob on a G harp) I can play it in 1st position, but my purpose was to practice smooth transitions from 5b to 5ob, and 6b to 5ob. Can't say I will be able to move it past novelty status on a richter harp in 2nd position, but I think it is really honing some skills that I might use later in other tunes.
