2 minute read
Harmonica World Magazine - Feb-March 2021
This month I’ve mostly been teaching ‘tunes from the British Isles’ and live blues harmonica classes. When I was at school, a Welsh cell-mate would torture us by singing Sosban Fach at the top of his tenor voice - he looked like the ‘Go Compare’ man, but without the moustache. One of my American students - let’s call him Scott - asked me to put together a course of songs from the British Isles so he could engage with the natives when he next visits. So, the idea of a song from Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England was born. BEN TALKS The first two tunes I chose were Sosban Fach and The Kesh. The Kesh is an attractive and addictive Irish Jig. HARMONICA The three letters in the word ‘Jig’ remind us it is in ‘three time’ and multiples of three, such as 6/8 and 9/8, whereas Ben Hewlett a Reel is a long slippery fish from the Sargasso Sea. Okay, it has four letters and four beats to the bar.
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A Jig has 6 or 12 beats in a bar. Some describe the rhythm as like saying ‘Diddley Diddley’, or 123 123 or even ‘rashers and sausages’. So a bar with one long note followed by a bar with three shorter notes could be sung as ‘Dum, Diddley’. I hope I’m not dumbing this down too much, but as I sing through a jig with no lyrics, to get the feel for it - and prior to trying it on the harmonica - I can’t help myself singing it like this! A bar with two notes followed by a bar with three notes could be sung as Dum Dee, Diddley. The only other combination here would be a bar of three notes followed by a bar of just one long note at the end of a piece, so I can sing it as ‘Diddley Dum’.
(-2 or 3) 4 4 4-45 -4 -4 -456 -666 766 -665 65-4 (Da) Dumdee Diddley Dumdee Diddley Diddley Diddley Diddley Diddley Here’s the whole piece with its two sections: The A section
(-2 or 3) 4 4 4-45 -4 -4 -456 -666 766 -665 65-4 4 4 4-45 -4 -4 -456 -666 765 -44-3 4 (4) The B Section
545 656 545 656 -67-6 654 -67-6 656 545 654
-45-4 -4 -4 7-77 -87-8 877 7 (65)
I know this looks weird but it’s how I start singing it, and I hope it will help you. I won’t teach you Sosban Fach here, but both these songs are in a pre-recorded video course which you can find here: http://ow.ly/FlrW50CPwxe Sosban Fach is a haunting Welsh classic which works well in 3rd position which I would recommend you learn. There’s a great video from Cerys Matthews on YouTube that you can play along with. Who knows, next time you go to Wales or Ireland, you can follow in Scott’s footsteps and impress the locals by playing their favourite songs to them.
Live blues classes are back
It’s just like the old days of running evening classes - great fun having a group of people (on zoom) all chatting, performing, and learning from each other. There are usually ten people per group so I can give personal attention and really listen to their playing. HarmonicaUK Members can try one free - just email benhewlett@me.com and ask for ‘HUK free class pass’ or visit http://ow.ly/OUUk50CPwrV
‘Shout out to Brendan Power for supplying this chart from his book:
