"Oh Shenandoah." (Harmonica by Paul.)

[frmnfrmdc]

It is said the Shenandoah Valley got it's name from a tribe of indians called the Senado who lived between New Market and Mt. Jackson, VA. This area is called Meem's Bottom. Unfortunately this tribe was wiped out by the Catawbas. Beautiful part of the country.

[paulhallart]

@frmnfrmdc then the name of the tribe lives on in one of the most beautiful names in the English language. maybe half of the song's charm is in the name which gets repeated like an echo of a trumpet off the mountains. But the problem with living in beautiful or bountiful places is the competition potential from hostile invaders. One thinks of the Anasazi or Comanche who lived in more desert environments. in a way, we all must be able to find beauty in every part of the Earth.

[therealstevehartley]

Very beautiful. I love it. I haven't heard this song in a long, long time. A few questions: (1) What key harmonica did you use? (2a) do you have tabs for this? I'm trying to learn the harmonica, and I'd love the chance to learn this. (2b) Assuming you don't or would rather not go through the trouble of posting them, would you mind terribly if I transliterated tabs myself and posted them here? I don't want to step on anyone's toes--particularly not someone whose given me such wonderful music.

[therealstevehartley]

@therealstevehartley I retract question 1, having somehow missed the comment where you already said.

[paulhallart]

@therealstevehartley hi realsteve. if it weren't4this2nd comment I wouldn't 've seen ur1st1. it didn't show up in my "in" box onYT. anyway. u must've seen how I used my cheap BluesBandCmaj diatonic&then used the inexpensiveNCHsound software from Australia2lower the pitch. only I4got2what percentage that pitch was. but as an artist I was delighted in that I could2some degree "sculpt" the sound. but I sort of blew it in this vid: the real echo-ie part was supposed2b in the middle of3reps.

[paulhallart]

@therealstevehartley Thanks! I had been responding to an urge2put visualizing on YT and after I got my recorded originals uploaded with pics of my early drawings and paintings such as "Chicken&Transistors", I turned2covers from what of my harmonica repertoire I could remember after playing at the street corner by the traffic light at Stephens Creek bvd & Santana Row in St. Jose CA. For visuals I tossed in pics I had taken in the mountains here in Skagway AK & it shocked me - the immensity...

[paulhallart]

@therealstevehartley -- part2 -- but as to the tabs. I was going2do that a while ago but4got. I've been real busy because4one reason, as a nurse at a ceramics studio pointed out to me, looks like I have a.d.d. and I've got a real scary amount of projects on back burners, including 17 partially-written sci-fi novels. In short, the only things that seem to get done are what I can get done "now" which usually goes2 3or4AM... but, yeah. If u could do the tabs that would b great. riffs included.

[johnnyreb067]

great job .. on a fantastic song....

[paulhallart]

@johnnyreb067 Thanks, johnny! yep. this mysterious fantastic song. we sure could use a couple of thousand more like it. you know, when I was playing this one in that old San Juan hotel room, presently I kind of "saw" a whole new avenue opening up on being able to play the tune in a certain variable way. And I suspect if I did it again somewhere, like in these same mountains up here in Alaska as were in the slide show, why, maybe I could just be able2play the song4an hour or so&get moreofit.

[paulhallart]

@mrwarmth21 and so now it behooves us, who have the music, to hold it in the hands of our thoughts, to perceive the Shenandoah matrix from which might spring thousands of profound melodies like it. It may have something to do with echos. or it may be touching on to such things as sadness, destiny and hope. something that might lay deep down in the instincts of the human being. it's as if the stars were talking to us.

[diamonddiva1954]

Hearing your beautiful harmonica playing brings goosebumps to my skin. This has always been a favorite song, and no matter how its played/sung, be it harmonica only, a capella, or with full band behind it, its ALWAYS wonderful. Thank you for sharing your talent with us.

[paulhallart]

@diamonddiva1954 hi diamonddiva. thanks! yes, this song made it through time to us from all who preserved it along the way. it itself is as if a clock whose collection of notes afford us a reading of a far different sort of time marking a "Hand" which shapes destinies or alters them to rescue travelers setting out to all destinations from older homesteads. and maybe we can give it just enough time for something beautiful to happen to speed the universe's children on their way2new destinations.

[kyladyblue]

I heard one of my uncle's play this for me on his harmonica..when I was 3 years old....every time we visited as a family I always asked him to play it for me......I am now 46 and he is elderly and no longer well...this is the first time I've heard it played in many years, it never ceases to bring the tears.....Perhaps it is part of my Native American and Irish Ancestry reason being I love it so well.. it's beautiful thank you for sharing this Blessings~

[paulhallart]

@kyladyblue hi kyladyblue. yes. time flies and our visit to the little blue planet seems brief but like the caterpillar to the butterfly our inability to understand brings a sense of finality which may have no bearing on reality. we have two gifts among our treasure, a tiny musical instrument and this so very curious song. why is it so beautiful. It's almost as if the departing pioneer unconsciously reached beyond and encased a memory of the Appelatia left behind2play on that instrument.

[k2477456]

i sung this in the virginia District Chorus VIII and this song made people in the audience cry... aparently when u sing this song well enough it gets emotional.. i felt honored to sing it

[paulhallart]

@k2477456 yes, this song is one of the truly greats. It's a treasure. having it in my repertoire so I can play it any time on the harmonica is like having a stunning piece of jewelry always ready. I figure there must have been many more out there, like this one and "Greensleeves", for example, but they must've been lost or something over the years. Well, we've got this one anyway, thanks to all those before us, pioneers, river boat people, and clipper ship sailors and so on, who preserved it.

[Bisbee94]

Do you think you can post the tabs for this song? Many many thanks!!!

[paulhallart]

@Bisbee94  I'll try, Bis, 2get some Shenandoah tabs up. a really good idea; might be able2do that for a few of these songs. only I've been coming up with so much new things2do, I hope I don't4get! maybe if you zip a reminder2me now and then. also I need2understand more about what tabs really are. I kind of have an idea...

[headonswivel]

Nice job paul. When I take a break at work I play this (with headphones), close my eyes and I'm in my happy place....

[paulhallart]

@headonswivel  hi headon! sorry I'm late about the response, guess the proverbial add got me again. thanks4including this in ur break time music mix!

[waferking19]

that sounds great.i think shenandoah is the absolute best song on the harmonica and my favourite to play.especially with vibrato.thanks for a great song......marty

[paulhallart]

@waferking19 thanks waferking! Shenandoah is some amazing music. actually mysterious in a beautiful sort of way. I've always wondered what made the melody so extremely beautiful. It might have been driven by the lament of leaving a part of the World that had the richest abundance of life on the planet. It's beautiful these days, but we have to remember back then, even the 19th century, North America, especially the Eastern waterways, were the show-piece of the planet. hence this music.

[wcdfilms]

iv been to shenadoah valley with my dad its awsome i saw it from the bluerdige mountains

[paulhallart]

@wcdfilms hi wcd. sorry it took me so long to respond. I've never been to the Shenandoah Valley myself, but would really like to pay it a visit sometime. It must be really beautiful to have inspired such a classic song. It's one of the first songs I learned on the harmonica. I used to play the song and imagine the sadness in the hearts of the pioneers as they left home to go out into the unknown. It must have been especially beautiful back then.

[paulhallart]

@RiverCitiDan Hi, RCD! Sorry I'm so late in responding. Back then 4 months ago I was working on YT digital art vids that nobody watches. and that's strange, almost everybody has a watch.

-

anyhow, thanks for the great comment on my Shenandoah video a while back. since then that comment has gotten 3 thumbs up. green thumbs, good gardeners, English or Australian hitch hikers. 3 of em.

-

I worked the pics4the vid in a Skagway house with people screamin' at me "get a job"; audio in Peurto Rico.

[y00sta]

im playin along paul on my old gretch, nice job pal

[paulhallart]

@y00sta Many thanks, Y! I remember picking that song out on my harmonica back in '62. It kinda stuck with me all those years, hitching across the States with six bucks in my wallet, or just walking down a street in London or Paris. I always tried to have a harp in my pocket. That and "Stranger on the Shore" are some in my early repertoire. But then I just started playing unwritten music; the river of music. I dipped my canteen cup in the waters.

-The pics: used Photoshop; many filters.

[naflodii]

those look like the rocky mountains not the appalachians.

[paulhallart]

@naflodii I didn't have any footage of the Appalachians. These were the next range over from the Sawtooth range of the White Pass in Alaska. Past that single-suspension bridge and over the summit of the pass is The Tormented Valley in adjacent Canada, where most of the photo-shoot was done for the photos from my files that I used in this video. I did the harmonica in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico where I also made the video a couple of months after joining You Tube in 2009.

[TexasMom17]

Very beautiful scenery captured and wonderful and captivating music. Thank you so so much for the journey! I loved it.....

[TexasMom17]

and another thing....we humans don't stop and enjoy nature as often as we should. I so can envision myself in a log cabin looking down upon all this beauty as a get AWAY from all other distractions.....

[paulhallart]

@TexasMom17 Hi TM. Sorry I'm late with the reply, but I wanted to thank you for the great comments you left on my Shenandoah video. Back then I was working on visual art vids using Adobe After Effects and Sound Booth. Also, to be honest, most of the time I'm kind of scared to write in comments sections afraid I'll say the wrong thing. I was one of the humans that stopped to enjoy nature, and each time after about 20 minutes or so, IT WOULD TURN INTO A "BOOK". It's more like we're part of nature.

[cinderellalifestyle]

Paul--this is beautiful.years ago when sons were little we watched alot of rail videos...one in particular I enjoyed for the history linking that era,...the gold rush.thots of those minors risking all to reach the Gold of the Yukon...your harmonica is wonderful..pics beautiful..I love a great "getaway" :-) thankyou!Laurie

[paulhallart]

Hi Laurie. Thanks!

Yup, the good ol' White Pass. The little railroad that could. Built by the intelligentsia of America who came for the gold and instead clawed around on granite mountains for a year.  One might have guessed they were kinda awe struck too. Their kids invented the shipping container and grand kids made liaison with Wall Street to bring in cruise ships. So if you compare Skagway with Rome as to world influence, Rome hardly made a dent...

The whole place is made of mountains!

[kztakasaka]

wonderful picture and play and its echo effect and recording. Thanks from Japan.

[annalinnea87]

I just love this.. it's so beautiful

[GrantBug]

Nice work! What key harmonica are you using?

[paulhallart]

Hi, GrantBug, it's paulhallart. All I've got here is my little old plastic one-octave, five buck made-in-China Honer Blues Band C-major harmonica.

I saw you did Shenandoah at the same time. Maybe the Bermuda Triangle effect (see my vlog on my channel). Last month psychospeakempire was doing Moon River the same time I was.

Take a look at my improv "The Big 031809er". I'm treating my harp as a communications devise - hypothetically, of course.

Keep on truckin!

Paul (paulhallart)

[paulhallart]

GrandBug

It's me, paulhallart again. I forgot to mention that my harp was a C but also that for the clip, I used NCH audio software from Australia, and changed the pitch. I was able to make the same harmonica sound like hundreds of other keys, pitches and inferences and so on. Just getting kind of extreme.

Paul