What is a harmonica quintet?
Definition 1: a group of 5 harmonica players.
Definition 2: a group of 5 musicians with harmonica leading the group (eg, harmonica
player with a string quartet).
Definition 3: a piece of music written for a group of musicians as defined in definitions
1 or 2.
What is a harmonica quintet in the style of King's Harmonica
Quintet?
A group of 5 harmonica players consisting of 2 treble chromatic harmonica players, 2 tenor
chromatic harmonica players and 1 bass chromatic harmonica player.
How is a harmonica quintet in the style of King's Harmonica
Quintet different from other forms of harmonica music?
Harmonica has often been identified as a solo instrument, although a large
variety of accompaniments, consisting various combinations of musical instruments, is
possible. It is not very common to have harmonica players collaborating with
each other. The most prominent form of harmonica group is the harmonica trio, as
popularized by the Harmonicats. Yet, a harmonica trio is still a form of harmonica
solo with accompaniment, although the accompaniment is taken up by bass and chord
harmonicas.
The form of harmonica quintet pioneered by King's Harmonica Quintet advocates equal role
among harmonica players within the group.
Why do you choose to play harmonica in this way?
The over-emphasis on the soloist in the prevailing forms of harmonica music has
restricted the overall development of the instrument family. First, the lower
registers of the harmonica are severely under-developed. Second, there has been
little musical collaboration among harmonica players. We think that there is much
room for development in harmonica ensemble music.
What is your vision of this form of music?
We think that each individual part of the ensemble should be unique and equally valued.
Each member needs to acquire the specific techniques in mastering his own
instrument, and to bring those techniques to sophistication to meet the technical
requirements of the composition. At the same time, each of them needs to develop the
sensitivity to the overall ensemble effect, and to contribute to that through highly
dynamic interactions among them. String quartet pieces, written by the masters of
composition, allow all of these objectives to be put into practice. With careful
choice of repertoire and re-arrangement, a harmonica quintet can even excel in the musical
effects when compared to the original combination of instruments. Hopefully this
will exploit the potential and expand the outreach of the harmonica performing art, and in
turn lead to compositions written specifically for harmonica quintet.
How do you start to play harmonica?
We all started to play harmonica in the high school - the King's College. The King's College has a long
history of teaching and playing harmonica. The King's College Harmonica Band was established in
the 1950's. It persistently consists of 30-50 members at any period and has always
been the cradle of harmonica players, teaching a few dozens of students to play harmonica
each year. From them develop numerous outstanding harmonica players who grab
numerous awards in the Hong Kong Schools' Music Festival every year. The King's College
Harmonica Band has always been one of the top 3 harmonica bands in the Festival.
Chromatic harmonica playing classical music has always been the tradition in King's
College (and other high schools in Hong Kong) all over the years and forms the core of our
harmonica techniques and musical background.
How do you start to play harmonica in the form of quintet?
A minority of those who graduated from high school can actually sustain their
interest in harmonica because of other diversions and engagements in life. In 1986,
a number of fresh graduates advocated the formation of an old boys' harmonica orchestra to
keep up their interest. They did a marvelous job in staging a series of
concerts. In one of the concerts, there was an attempt to play Mozart's Flute
Quartet with a flute and 4 harmonicas. This was the first experience of touching the
essence of chamber music and it was fantastic. This prompted the formation of the
King's Harmonica Quintet in mid-summer of 1987. The first pieces were bold attempts
of the Borodin's String Quartet No.2 and Dvorak's American Quartet.
Why do you choose the number 'five'?
String quartets are the richest resources of ensemble music. So four players (two
treble, one tenor and one bass) are required. The addition of one tenor harmonica to
the original 4-part combination adds flexibility to the re-arrangement. Discrepancy
in the range of harmonicas and string instruments (the lower range of violin and higher
range of cello) can be more readily resolved, while harmonic and melodic structure of the
original work can be reproduced faithfully (we cannot play all the double stops and triple
stops of a string instrument).
We do have some pieces arranged for six people for technical reasons. They are
usually larger ensemble or orchestral pieces. We find these handy when some of our
friends want to join us.
What kind of music do you play?
Broadly speaking, we are specializing in classical music. The majority of
the Quintet's repertoire are string quartets of masters spanning 3 centuries, from Mozart
to Shostakovich. We play music written for string orchestra or even a full orchestra
at various periods of time. We also have some Chinese music and American music in
our reportoire.
Here is the detailed repertoire of the Quintet.
Where can I obtain your recordings?
Currently, we have one CD available to general public. Please
contact F&R Farrell (http://www.frfarrell.com)
if you wish to order a few copies. For bulk order within the Asia
Pacific region, please contact us directly. The Classical
Free-Reed has a review
on this CD.
The website has a number of our recordings available in RealAudio format,
which are accessible from the gallery page.
What kinds of harmonicas do you use?
The treble harmonica players use the Hohner
270 HardBoppers modified by Richard Farrell and the
Hohner CX12 chromatic harmonicas. The tenor harmonica players use the Hohner 280 and
Super 64X. The bass harmonica player uses the Tombo bass. It is worth
mentioning the bass harmonica, as this is the only model that has a design that allows one
to play a decent melody like other bass instruments.
How often do you practise?
Since we all have full-time jobs, we normally practise once a week at the
weekend, lasting for 3 hours. Additional practices are required before concerts.
What are the milestones in the development of the Quintet?
