Re: [Harp-L] Just Intonation and Difference Tones

["Tim Moyer" <wmharps@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

jazmaan wrote:
> shouldn't everybody using a bullet mike be using just 
> intoned harps?

It depends on where your difference tones are coming from.  If 
they're coming from adjacent notes on the harp being played 
together, then the answer is yes.  But if the difference tones are 
coming from the difference between a single note played on the harp 
against a single note played on an instrument tuned to 12 tone equal 
tempermenet, like a piano or even possibly a guitar, then then 
answer is most likely no.  

I will agree that most people don't examine their own playing 
carefully before choosing between equal and just (or some 
compromise) intonation.  I used to believe that because I play 
mostly single notes I should choose equal temperment.  But I 
discovered that I wasn't really playing strict melody lines, and I 
wasn't doubling other chromatic instruments.  What's more, probably 
the reason I didn't play more chords and partials was because they 
sounded bad on the equally tempered harps.  I now prefer the 19-
limit just intonation scheme that I got from Pat Missin, and rarely 
tune things to equal.

-tim