Harmonicast

Harmonicast.There is not enough music for REAL chromatic harmonica players to play... so here comes a duet for 4-octave Key Of C Chromatic Harmonica and String Bass.

Harmonicast

...could you explain this piece to us? I'm not sure I'm getting it, and I don't want to be unwarrented in what I think of it. It's very stylistically unusual.

it is a style mixture in a ternary form. I personally believe that chromatic harmonica is an underrated instrument, as a good musician can play as much as any other woodwind. I figured I would be a little bit unconventional with it. that's all.

How rare are chromatic harmonicas? I've never seen someone actually have one, which sucks because it's an instrument with awesome potential.

I like a lot of this. What I don't like is when you're just moving up and down on the scale: that is boring. That being said, I found the beginning and ending to be the best bit.

Speaking of those sections, I don't think it is constantly in 4/4. The beginning, for instance, seems like a bar of 3/4, followed by 3 bars of 2/4, and then another bar of 3/4.

Bar 35, when you throw in those 16th notes, is really awkward and sudden. Same goes for when it's repeated in the contra-bass later.

I have one :-D

So what makes this piece a harmonica/bass piece and not a basic piano piece? Which is how it reads and sounds.

You're not exploring your instruments' potential or writing for the instruments. It seems like you banged something out on the piano and then said "this would be cool for the weird and underused combo of bass and harmonica".

On a C-harmonica, you have the ability to play any C, three different ways (excluding bends), just about any C-sharp two different ways, any F two different ways! And guess what, they all have slightly different timbres (especially blowing vs. drawing)! And speaking of timbre, that can easily be manipulated by slightly changing the mouth shape, or cupping the harmonica, etc.

And bends! An essental part of harmonica playing (though not with the chromatic harmonica, so much) comes from bending notes. And that gives you oh-so-many possibilitie.

Looking through it, there seems to be little regard for breathing -- though I guess an F here or a C there can be drawn rather than blown to facilitate that. But again, that changes the sound. Which you clearly haven't taken into account.

But, for example, the opening measure. How would you play that? Would you draw the F and blow the D or blow both of them? Since that makes a big difference on how its played and how it will end up sounding.

I agree about the 16th notes.

The unison rhythms are extremely boring.

Measure 40, those thirds are strange, same with the octaves in measure 56.

I definately do not think this works, at all, for your instrumentation.

How rare are chromatic harmonicas? I've never seen someone actually have one, which sucks because it's an instrument with awesome potential.

Chromatic harmonicas aren't rare, I have one as well. Mine isn't four octaves, though.

I was wondering how the heck did you know you could play a C three different wtys etc until the last line of your post.

And yes chromatic harmonicas are not rare. I just inherited one and have seen them for sale at instrument shops.

I must live in a very narrow world of harmonicas.