I do enjoy playing some of these great melodies on harp. The most well known one and widely played one on harp is Amazing Grace and is probably in most folks repertoire.
I came across this tune recently, written by the American Robert Lowry in 1869 . It sounds quite modern though and even has a boy band key change!
I’m using a Bb and C harp.
Anyone else play this genre?
Terry McMillan & Buddy Greene were invested in this Genre.
Nice playing Grey Owl. I would not call that a boy band key change, but rather a church organists "lift", a half step rise typically done on the last stanza. Perhaps the boy band usage is an example of the secular borrowing from the sacred.
Some people may not gravitate to hymns because of their association with religion, but many of these tunes were not originally used as church music. Some were originally penned by the church but had such appeal they began to be used outside of it as well. One thing for sure is than many of these songs have powerful emotional content, even without the lyrics. Your playing brought this out in the tune you played. Because of the emotional content of these tunes, they sometimes end up in movie scores. Two examples I can think of are "I'll Fly Away" used in the movie "Winter's Bone" and "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" used throughout the modern remake of "True Grit" Both of these tunes work well on the harp.
Many times the tunes and lyrics are separate and interchangeable. Many Hymnals have a tune index so you can find all the songs with the same tune. The text of "Amazing Grace" is commonly sung to the tune "New Brittian" Here are many alterntive tunes for the lyrics to"Amazing Grace". This list does not contain my favorite tune for this song which I first heard sung by the Military Choir at the memorial for 5 slain servicemen in Chattanooga. It can be heard at 8:24 in this video. This tune, as most hymns, also works well on the harp. I would like to know what the name of this tune is, but I have not been able to find it.
Last Edited by STME58 on Apr 14, 2016 7:43 AM
"my favorite tune for this song which I first heard sung by the Military Choir at the memorial for 5 slain servicemen in Chattanooga. It can be heard at 8:24 in this video. This tune, as most hymns, also works well on the harp. I would like to know what the name of this tune is, but I have not been able to find it."
I know that melody as the old Scottish song "The Water Is Wide".
Thank you for that timeistight. From "Water is Wide" I was able to find it under the name O Wally Wally, first published in 1724 and probably sung for centuries before that. It is a hauntingly beautiful melody and I can see why it has survived the years.
The tune is very similar to Tom Paxton's "Rambling Boy", I wonder if Tom was familiar with this tune.
Last Edited by STME58 on Apr 14, 2016 9:07 AM
SteveTech, do you ever use the half step lift on the last chorus ad Grey Owl did here? That was pretty typical when accompanied by an organ. The way Grey Owl did it required a harp change (I don't know how you would do it otherwise unless you are really good at overblows).
I usually play hymns and carols in first position, but after hearing some of Grey Owls work I have been leaning a few in 2nd.
In a couple of weeks I will be doing a special at church. I've chosen "Come Thou Fount of Many Blessings." I will be playing first position in the rack with Guitar chords in Eb. I like the bluesy version of Ashley Cleveland the best, but I will do a little syncopating like how Jadon Lavik does in His acoustic radio version on youtube. Anyway its always fun to "Give the devil the Bluz!" My Kairos band just played "Faith-Faith" at a Methodist Church. Not sure they were quite ready to rock the house, but they made a great attempt. "Faith-Faith" is on the Mississippi Kairos band CD that Adam plays the Harmonica parts in 3rd pos. Adam posted this song here over a year ago. ---------- And I Thank You !! KCz Backwoodz Bluz
Last Edited by KC69 on Apr 14, 2016 1:45 PM
For the past year I've been collaborating with a guitarist who prefers to play country and gospel. I was peripherally familiar with some of the country and less so with the gospel but the songs of each genre were so similar in my mind that we would start with one melody and by the end it had become a medley. He called it 'wandering' but it was actually my confusion.
As a non-reader I wound up printing out lyrics which I would mark up in order to stay on track. This took care of the problem for the most part.
The first gospel song we nailed was, "What A Friend We Have In Jesus". I took a solo for a verse/chorus and jazzed it up to a point where I thought it might become offensive to the devout. I reluctantly added it to our busk set and we have performed it on two occasions with positive reactions. I'm still waiting to be thumped on the head with a bible by a passerby.
I do love the melodies and sentiment of gospel but as a wobbler I have yet to move beyond feeling like a hypocrite for performing them.
- Grey Owl ... You sound great. Before my current collaboration I used your rendition of 'Amazing Grace' as a model. I found "What A Friend ..." among the best for playing with improv.
JustFuya: You never have to feel like a hypocrite for honoring God with music: Thanks for your post and keep givin the devil the bluz! ---------- And I Thank You !! KCz Backwoodz Bluz
First off, I think Grey Owl did a dandy job in the OP.
Secondly, the band I play in, Soulmanna, does mostly contemporary Christian stuff, some originals and older hymns. Some of our classic hymns have been tweaked slightly to give them a fresh feel. I posted a few of our demo tracks here a couple of years ago. Anyways, even when we do a more traditional song, I mostly just use 2nd or 3rd position. There are maybe 2 or 3 that our singer does straight up as originally written. I pretty much layout on these except for an accent note here or there. The reason being that I really don't know how I could improve the song otherwise. When in doubt, layout. It ain't about me. ----------
First of all, thanks for your feedback and experiences.
Alternative tuning were mentioned above and it’s something I’ve been looking into for worship songs, ballads etc.,
I’ve been a lifelong 2nd position player, starting with the blues then using that position for everything else. I pretty much skipped 1st position altogether. It is only fairly recently I have added 3rd, 5th, 12th and 1st.
The trouble is although I prefer low octave playing, it naturally involves lots of bends and while they work well in Blues where you’re scooping bends or playing them in passing, they can stand out like a sore thumb both tonally and intonation wise if you don’t hit them right (this is a constant challenge) For instance you can be playing blow and draw notes quite happily and then you have to hit a double draw bend on 3 and maybe have to hold it on the end of a phrase.
Having invested so much time practicing bends it almost feels like cheating to use an altered tuning but I’m beginning to think it maybe more musically pleasing in this genre at least. To that end I’ve started to tune some of my spare harps to Paddy Richter tuning where I remove metal at the free end of blow 3 reed to tune it up a whole step which gives the same note as the double draw bend on 3 (so saves bending) you still have 2 draw so you don’t miss blow 3. I’ve also tuned one of my harps to Melody Maker which is the same as above + remove metal at the free end of the draw 5 reed to raise it by a semitone.
I have practised with these and they feel and sound good but I haven’t performed with them as yet. **************************************************************************** Some other good melodies are:-
Be still my soul: +5-4+5-5, +5-4+5+4, -4-4+5, +5-4+5-5, +5-4+5+4, -4+5…. Were you there -1-2-3 -3-3-3**-2-3-3**-2, -2-3-4, -4-4+5-4-4-3-3**….. Lo how a rose-4-4-4+5-4-4-3+4-3/-3**-2-2-2*/-2….Sting covered this on a Christmas release Buddy Greene’s Mary did you know A nice version by Christelle
I use key changes like the the half step lift very sparingly. Call it my classical music training in college, but I find it only effective if used in moderation. Although, in moderation...it's quite effective as we see in Grey Owl's performance.
I usually like to use dynamics or rhythm changes in the guitar and drums to add lift.
At this point I would change harps like Grey Owl did. I'm working on chromatic though, so I might break that out in a service in the future. Whatever gives me that major 7th when I need it.
