[Harp-L] re: temperment considerations



Paul Bowering asks:

if harps in Just tuning are in tune with themselves
but don't blend as well with equal temp instruments
how did the harp fare for the first eighty odd years
of its history before the introduction of the 12TET
Golden Melody?

The short answer is differently. Interestingly I just had this conversation in the back of Buzz Krantz's van hurtling towards the Jason Ricci Harp Blow Off in St. Louis. My companion in conversation was Richard Sleigh. I'm a recent convert to some of the advantages to just intonation as a tuning scheme. Clearly context is everything and there are many musical contexts that are not appropriate for JI. I think the same should be said about ET. I had the startling experience of buying a pre war Marine Band in the key of G and having it totally change my approach to playing harmonica, especially blues. Over a period of weeks what was revealed to me was why a lot of what's played in blues is played. You definitely use the 5 and 9 draw differently playing blues on a JI harmonica. Little Walter was a master of using this limitation as an advantage. fjm





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