Jesu Joy Of Man’s Desiring – J.S. Bach [..with tab]

Hark, what peaceful music rings!

[This post is dedicated to the Memory of the great Herbert Harris, Bajan choirmaster and organist of All Saints Church, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK].

Welcome to the Harp Surgery, home of all things harmonica, where one minute we’re honking the blues and next minute we’re power harping to heavy metal. This post we’re turning the clocks back nearly three hundred years to the ornamentation and etiquette of Baroque. Keep smiling, it’s more fun than you might imagine.

Whether or not you’ve ever studied and performed classical music, it is a certainty you’ll already have encountered some of its stars. They have steadily colonised slow elevators, invaded telephone hold music and squatted The Antiques Roadshow for a while now. A house favourite at the Harp Surgery is Johann Sebastian Bach. As a young church chorister, Jesu Joy Of Man’s Desiring, composed by Bach in the early 1700′s, was regular fayre for the Harp Surgery’s Good Doctor. Other spiritual standards were too, but Bach was cool. While Stainer was invigorating and Wesley warmed the heart, Bach was just hip.

Taking part in Bach’s St.Matthew Passion “Bach wrote the Brandenburg Concerto for the electronic keyboard” from the organ loft of St.Alban’s Abbey as schoolboy soprano was another supreme moment. Learning Bach’s Two and Three Part Inventions on the piano was an adventure. In fact wherever JS Bach was encountered, life was good. Somehow he always raised a grin.

Then of course there was the radical side of Bach. He was way ahead of his time. He is probably the reason why academics believe maths and music have much in common. Appropriately, with the advent of the Moog Synthesizer, came the brilliant album Switched On Bach by Wendy Carlos (then Walter Carlos). It was a perfect match. Without doubt, Bach had composed the Brandenburg Concerto for the electronic keyboard. If you’ve never heard it, now is your moment to catch up. It’s wicked stuff. Just click the link.

“this saccharine schmaltz mutation climbed to number 7 in the UK charts”Sadly dear reader, ten years down the line things took an ugly turn for Johann Sebastian when The Beach Boys released Lady Lynda. Of course it was based on the melody from Jesu Joy but, inexplicably, this saccharine schmaltz mutation climbed to number 7 in the UK charts, to the consternation of every music, Bach and Beach Boys fan. What the hell had happened? The Beach Boys reappeared in 1996 on Status Quo’s cover of Fun, Fun, Fun, but for Johann, the curtain had fallen once more.

Why bother with church music on the blues harp?

Where do we start? Try it before you knock it. Playing Jesu Joy introduces you to first position playing patterns you wouldn’t otherwise explore. You can also experiment with new tongue techniques and harmonies. It’ll expand your repertoire. It’ll certainly turn heads. And, who knows, one day you might like to stand up in church and play it as a dedication to a loved one. Religious music is right at the roots of the blues and soul traditions. Little Walter’s My Babe, for instance, was a reworking of the Spiritual This Train. Check out Terry McMillan playing it below and, once he gets cooking after the 2:05 mark, tell me you you ain’t uplifted by them country licks. Allelujah! He’s playing in G major, using a C major diatonic in second (cross harp) position. More on My Babe and the crossover of spiritual songs into secular R&B here.

Origins

But back to the main plot. J.S. Bach was the king of German baroque music in the 1700s. The likes of Mozart and Beethoven adored his compositions. During his lifetime he wrote copiously for choirs, orchestras, chamber ensembles, the church organ and solo instruments. Sadly he lived before the Harmonica was invented. Given his creativity and imagination however, who knows what would have happened had he heard one. Jesu Joy is a chorale “Sadly he lived before the Harmonica was invented…who knows what would have happened” he wrote as part of the Herz Und Mund und Tat und Leben (Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life) cantata.

In Harp Surgery terms, a cantata is a posh piece of church music for choir and solo voices, accompanied by a modest orchestra. It tends not to be an over lengthy affair so your bum won’t get too numb. If it does, you can stand up and join in the sing-along section with other members of the congregation. That’s the chorale. There are two in Herz und Mund, with Jesu Joy being the second and closing chorale. You can familiarise yourself with this serene piece of music by playing the link below. Take note of the lyrical accompaniment of the orchestra and the slower melody line (starting at 24 seconds) which draws it all together.

So how did he do it?

He didn’t! On the harmonica that is. But here’s how to tackle this famous piece on your harp. We’re using a C major diatonic and playing in straight, or first, position. Enjoy the three hole harmony splits which mimic the unison line of the chorale. If you forget where it all happens or how the melody kicks in, start by building and holding the notes of the G7 chord, 2D-3D-4D-5D. You could also use this to grab your audience’s attention and build suspense, before commencing the melody on 4B.

[2D-3D-4D-5D..................]

5B 4B 4D 5B 6B

5D 5D 6D

6B 6B 7B 7D 7B (6B 7B ) 6B 5B 4B

4D 5B 5D 6B 6D 6B

5D 5B 4D 5B 4B 3D 4B 4D

2D 3D 4D 5D 5B 4D

5B 4B 4D 5B 6B

5D 5D 6D

6B 6B 7B 7D 7B (6B 7B) 6B 5B 4B

4D 5B 5D 6B 5D 5B 4D 4B

3B 4B 3D [you could use 2D instead of 3B on the first note here to save jumping]

4B 5B 6B 7B 6B 5B

2B 3B 4B

3B-5B 3D-5D 4B-6B

4B-6B 5D 5B 4D

2D 3D” 3D 4D 4B 4D

5D 5B 5D 4D 3D

2D 3D 4D 5D 5B 5D

3B-5B 2D-5D 4B-6B [you could substitute 2D-5D with 3D-5D and 4B-6B with a 3B-6B octave]

6B (5B 6B) 5B 4B

4D 5B 5D 5B 4D 4B

5B 4D 5B 6B 5D 5D

6D 6B 6B 7B 7D 7B 6B 5B 4B

4D 5B 5D 6B 6D 6B

5D 5B 4D 5B 4B 3D 4B 4D

2D 3D 4D 5D 5B 4D

5B 4B 4D 5B 6B

5D 5D 6D 6B 6B

7B 7D 7B (6B 7B) 6B 5B 4B

…. 3D” 6B 5D 5B 4D 4B [ralentando]

3B 4B 3D

2B-4B 3B-5B 4B-6B 5B-7B

Here’s Buddy Greene playing Jesu Joy and, as a bonus, the William Tell Overture at the Carnegie Hall