Fwd: [Harp-L] headshake - NOT a trill

["Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, chris smith 
<harpshredder@...> wrote:

> The correct term is trill for the smooth
> vacillation between two pitchs.

Sorry, Chris, this is incorrect.

"Trill" refers exclusively to the alternation of two neighboring 
notes in the scale, never to notes any farther apart than that.

This creates a dissonant interval, hence tension that requires 
resolution. Wider intervals do not create that tension. They create 
texture without the tension. They are called names like tremulando 
and tremolo.

The only actual trill on the diatonic harmonica is between Draw 6 and 
Draw 7 (A and B on a C-harp). Interesting that harmonica players 
verrrry rarely use this - probably because, as a true trill, it is 
more dissonant than they want.

I'm sorry to sound disrepectful, Chris, but I'm going to stand on a 
soapbox for a minute and say that harmonica players, if they really 
want the respect of the larger musical community, should use musical 
terms correctly. "Trill" has had a very specific meaning regarding 
the intervals used for something like 400 years.

"Shake" is in fact an accepted term for the rapid alternation of two 
notes, whether dissonant or not.

Therefore, head shake is a perfectly acceptable term. I might quibble 
that the head is not always used - I prefer to move the harp or my 
tongue.