[Harp-L] tuning and reed shapes



Michael writes:

"The main problem with chords on a standard chromatic is that the
instrument has not been voiced after being tuned."


No. The problem is that it's in 12 tone equal temperament and thus there is significant beating in both major and minor chords. I'm not sure what you consider "voicing" in this example but this problem exists in equal measure in all Equally tuned instruments. It's more noticeable in instruments which can sustain chords for long periods (including the harmonica and accordion) and perhaps paradoxically a bit more noticeable in instruments where the fundamental is more pronounced (try playing a three note 12TET major chord using just sine-waves: the beating is very distinct).


Anyone who tells you that they can do something other than adjust the tuning to minimize or make the harshness of the 12TET chord go away is simply wrong. Actually, the best way to make something which deliberately beats (as in 12TET, unified organs or simply unstable tuning) less noticeable is to make it significantly worse. Assault the ear with movement. Thus Theatre organs tend to have extreme tremolos (ie, vibrato), the Hammond (several beating elements involved) was paired with the Leslie speaker and accordions and others use celeste and tremolo effects (sounds deliberately beating).

Michael again:

"By cleaner I mean a
tone response that is sharp and clear in the desired note and lacking
as much as possible unwanted secondary enharmonic tones."

I would strongly advise against using such weighted language as "unwanted". It implies that there is some endgame of timbre against which all else is measured. Besides, what you really mean to say is a note with a more pronounced fundamental and weaker upper harmonics. There is nothing wrong with that, but it's not "better" than the opposite.

For the record regarding reed-shape, there has been some discussion of this in the archives including some excellent posts by Rick Epping showing some amazing shaped reeds he's experimented with. I have at least one harmonica with trapezoidal reeds (similar to many accordion reeds) and while it projects more than many, I can't claim that is solely do to the difference in reed shape. For the most part, it sounds like a harmonica. And for the most part, harmonicas sound like the other members of the free-reed family, which all tend to be very similar unless you get to very drastic differences like the extreme twisting (aka, "voicing") of 19th century American reed organs (and very much unlike anything I've seen on the few accordions and concertinae I've encountered) which is still basically recognizable as a free-reed, or the frequency specific matched resonators of something like the Vocalion, which can be much more effective at altering the timbre.





JR Ross




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