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

[Pierre <plavio@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jazzman says:

am I
correct that the difference tones generated by a Just Intoned harp are more 
pleasing to the ear
than the difference tones generated by an equal temperament harp?

(I am not an expert, but this is what I understand from what I have read. 
Please correct me if I am inaccurate.)

Equal temperament chords are more dissonant than just intoned chords, they 
sound rough (example are Golden melody and pianos. Piano sounds fine to me, 
but GM does not. Harmony comes from frequencies waves that partly overlay 
each other. Dissonance comes from frequencies that don't quite overlap where 
they should.

When you divide things equally as in equal temperament, there is for some 
notes a slight error as compared to ratios that harmonize purely.

In the olden days, harmony was king (no tuners though, was inexact as done 
by ear). When keyboards were invented there was a problem because a tune 
could sound different when played in different keys because of harmonic 
compromises. So some math wizz figured out how to divide an octave exactly 
by 12 giving equidistant intervals and this sort of became the norm. Of 
course this fu.... up harmony in favor of individual notes. With respect to 
an orchestra this probably made sense.

Pierre.














----- Original Message ----- 
From: "jazmaan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <dmf273@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 2:01 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Re: Just Intonation and Difference Tones


> Tim wrote:
>
> > 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.
>
> Tim, are you telling me that when you're in the audience (or on stage) you 
> can actually hear
> difference tones that are the product of TWO DIFFERENT INSTRUMENTS playing 
> simultaneous notes?
> And you can hear these difference tones in the context of an amplified 
> blues band?  Wow.
>
> I'm lucky if I can hear the difference tones generated by my own 
> harmonica.  I usually don't
> notice them unless I'm playing amplified.  Which gets me back to my 
> original question - am I
> correct that the difference tones generated by a Just Intoned harp are 
> more pleasing to the ear
> than the difference tones generated by an equal temperament harp?
>
> For those of you who may not be aware of difference tones, they're like 
> phantom notes, and I
> believe that harmonica is one of the few instruments that is really good 
> at producing them.  I'm
> no expert, but I know we've got some experts here (like Pat Missin) who 
> can tell you all about
> this phenomenon.
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