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THERE'S A GREAT BOOK OF IRISH tunes by Glenn Weiser which recommends the use of a TWELVE-hole harmonica for around one-fifth of the tunes included, mostly tunes requiring a G harmonica. In these instruments the extra notes extend the top end of the harmonica's range, providing notes needed for many tunes which are just not there on a 10-hole. Let's look at this from the beginning. The trouble is that the standard 10-hole harp, especially the G harp, is just a bit TOO restricted for many Irish tunes. Although the instrument spans three octaves, only the middle octave is complete. There is one note missing from the highest octave: in fact, this is rarely a problem. Similarly, the fourth note of the lowest octave is absent. I've only come across four or five tunes that need that note, so no real problem there either. The real hassle is with the missing sixth note of the lowest octave. An awful lot of the tunes I play need this note, especially (though not exclusively) the ones that use a G harmonica. The 12-hole attempts to circumvent this by, in effect, allowing the middle octave to take the place of the lower octave. Just by providing some extra notes higher up, it allows you to avoid the lowest-octave problem. I hope you can see it! You will end up, in many cases, playing an octave higher than would otherwise be the case if only that 6th note wasn't missing. I found that this solution, whilst allowing me to play the tunes that needed that missing note, left me occasionally feeling slightly uncomfortable because I didn't particularly want to stand out as a consequence of having to play very high, an octave above the fiddles for example. My personal solution is to stick with the 10-hole harp but to retune just one reed in order to put back the missing note. You must have noticed that in these instruments one of the notes is duplicated, namely, 3-blow is the same note as 2-draw. Now, a little tweaking can be done to adapt the harp to Irish music. We could give up either of the existing 3-blow or 2-draw notes - and replace it with that missing 6th. Both alternatives are possible. In either case what you have to do is to raise the pitch of the reed by a whole tone. This means filing a considerable amount of metal from the thickened end of the reed. I assure you, it can be done with complete success! I do this routinely with all my harmonicas, including my Echo tremolos. When you've got the reed up to pitch you may have to file carefully round the edges, as you may have created burrs which will stop it fitting into its slot. Also, check that the offset still matches that of adjacent reeds.
So which of the two reeds should you alter, 2-draw or 3-blow? Brendan Power told me that he raises 3-blow, and this has now become standard practice. That way you hang on to that nice dominant chord in the draw notes, but you do have to get used to a different blow-draw regime at the low end. You may find it useful to know that this tuning has been dubbed "the Paddy Richter tuning." I don't use it myself (perversely, as usual, going against the tide of opinion!). I prefer to tune up the 2-draw reed. I lose the chord - though chords, as I've said, are not my top priority - but I do keep the old familiar blow-draw pattern. It's a bit easier to do as well because you can do it without taking the reed-plates off (not in itself a good reason for the choice). Either way, you end up with an instrument well-suited to Irish music. Brendan is widely credited with having invented the Paddy Richter tuning some time in the early 1990s. Glenn Weiser's book was published in 1987, before the "invention" of Paddy Richter, and the 12-hole solution to playing that missing note was the best available at the time. Glenn is, like just about all players of Irish tunes on diatonic harps, a great advocate of the Paddy Richter tuning these days and, like me, he is frustrated by the fact that stock harps in this very useful tuning are still hardly available. As I write, Seydel are now selling Paddy-tuned harmonicas, and it is to be hoped that the other makers will follow suit. Of the people who write to me about playing Irish tunes, the vast majority who mention books mention Glenn's, and it is indisputably an invaluable source of tunes and much other useful information - and you don't need to be able to read music to benefit from it.
Time spent on doing your own "tweaking" is time well-spent, but if you're new to the game the oft-repeated advice holds good: practise on old or cheap harps to begin with.EVEN IF YOU'RE conservative-minded about trying new tunings, you may still be interested in this message that I sent to the Harp-L forum in April 2005:
Subject: [Harp-L] SUCCESSFUL RETUNING EXPERIMENT
"I've always been reluctant to stray away from the standard diatonic tuning, except for the one-reed alteration of Paddy Richter, but I took a look at Jean Sabot's website this morning http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jsabot/accueilan.htm (I thought I'd better - the great man is in Cornwall this week and I'm meeting him for a few tunes on Thursday...). I spent the next three hours retuning a G Lee Oskar to Jean's "Major tuning - Ionian mode" and I now have a "low D" harp that is superior in some ways for Irish tunes to a standard low D. Starting from the A note at the bottom end, the harp has two and a half full octaves in the key of D - no missing 6th note in the low octave, no missing 7th in the highest octave. There is simply nothing new to learn with regard to blow-draw patterns - the pattern is the same as with the standard tuning. I was playing tunes straight away with no problem whatsoever. "The only change I made to his recommendation was to substitute an F sharp for his hole 10 D, which is duplicated anyway. The big drawback to his retuning is that it's a lot of work, most reeds needing to be retuned by a tone or a semitone. When I needed to lower the pitch of the reeds I applied a small blob of Araldite Rapid (epoxy glue) to the free end which I filed to suit once it had hardened (I used my small rotary drill mostly). Made a few clumsy mistakes, but nothing irreversible - the glue scrapes off if needs be. Accidentally got the odd smear of glue where it shouldn't have gone once or twice as well, but though it came off OK it's definitely best to avoid this! My vision for close work is rubbish these days and I really ought to address this. The harp worked really well first time once I'd adjusted the fine-tuning, and I can see me doing the same to some low F plates to give me a low C harp. "I don't know whether a set of major diatonic G plates was the best selection for this exercise, but it's what I had lying around and I'm very pleased with the outcome."
IF YOU REALLY CAN'T BEAR THE THOUGHT OF DOING YOUR OWN TUNING, don't despair. I've discovered an excellent fellow working in the south of England who will sell you a Hohner harp set up and tuned to your exact needs for little more than the off-the-shelf price of the harp. He is Antony Dannecker, and there are more details on the Links page - or visit his site at http://www.antonydannecker.com If you're not sure what you should be asking for, email me at moorcot@msn.com and I'll try to help you. It would be great if we could just buy harps in different tunings to try them out, but with a few exceptions (such as the Lee Oskar Melody Maker and minor tunings, which aren't ideal for Irish tunes) you either have to pay handsomely to obtain a customised harp or you have to do the work yourself, which entails the use of much time and the acquisition of new skills. I suppose that's why a lot of people tend to stick to the out-of-the-box tuning. Let's hope that the Paddy Richter trail being blazed by Seydel catches on!
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