Re: [Harp-L] Question: Equal Temperament Tuning on Golden MElody

["Arnold Wiliem" <arnoldw.id@xxxxxxxxx>]

Haha yea, everything is subjective. It depends on the context also.

By the way, I just don't understand why in Piano or Keyboard, they can play
both melody and chords without changing the tuning?

Arnold

On Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 7:44 AM, David Payne <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> Winslow's reply is rock solid, that's precisely what's going on. I will,
> however, West Virginiaify it: chords suck on equal temperment harmonicas. If
> you don't play chords, you'll probably take to EQ like wild hogs to an apple
> orchard. If you play in five bazillion positions you'll probably LOVE EQ.
>  Me, I think it sucks.
>  Like everything with the harmonica, it is EXTREMELY subjective. I'm not
> that crazy about compromise-tuned chords even. Why? The chords sound OK to
> me on compromise, but dead. That's because I have been spoiled with the
> grace and beauty of Just Intonation. Flat spoiled, y'all.
>  When I hit the cross-harp draw chord, I want to FEEL those soundwaves
> interact, I want to hear that rich sound of those chords. I sit sometimes
> with a Seydel Hochlandklange, just drawing and blowing and feeling those
> chords. can't really play a whole lot on it, because I never got to the
> point of trying to play songs on it. I just listen to those interactions.
> It's hypnotic
>   I hit draw chords on my diatonics, mostly JI, all the time just to hear
> it sound.
>  As far as chords go, with Just Intonation, it sounds to me like the
> exhaust of a 1969 Chrysler 440 engine Six Pack, headers, glasspack exhaust,
> three inch diameter tailpipes, all six carburetor barrels wide open, engine
> redlining nice, rich, throaty exhaust sound. It's rich.  I like to hear JI
> for the exact same reason I like listening to the above engine run.
>
>  So, to sum, Just Intonation = equals the sound of the General Lee (1969
> Dodge Charger) with a load of moonshine in the trunk, pedal to the floor.
>
>  Compromise, I hear the exhaust a Chrysler 318 from the mid 80s, catalytic
> converter. I mean, it's OK, it could, in theory, outrun some cops, it's not
> really THAT boring, but doesn't get me excited.
>  Compromise = The sound of my first car, a 1983 Dodge truck I suped up.
>
>  Equal temperment chords sound to me like granny driving her Volkswagen
> Rabbit to church every Sunday. She can't find third gear and she uses the
> clutch for a footrest.
>  Equal temperment = the sound of "if you can't find 'em, grind 'em."
>
>  I give one of my JI harps some guys to play some operas and whatnot with,
> they'll say "My god that 5 draw is FLAT!"
>
>  All is subjective. All.
>
>  I'll put something up on this, Arnold.
>
>  Dave
>  ______________________________
> Dave Payne Sr.
>  Elk River Harmonicas
>  www.elkriverharmonicas.com
>
> Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>  The best place to get both an explanation and audio examples related to
> harmonica is at Pat Missin's website:
>
> http://patmissin.com/tunings/tunings.html
>
> Briefly, equal temperament is better for melodies, especially melodies that
> contain a lot of chromatic notes (Because the notes are mathematically
> figured to be the same distance apart from one note to the next in the
> 12-note chromatic scale). However, chords can sound rough in equal
> temperament, and the harmonica tends to make the problem very obvious.
>
> By contrast, you can create a just scale by deriving the pitches of notes
> from a single starting note (such as C) by dividing the frequency
> (vibrations per second) of that note by simple numbers (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,
> etc.). When you do this, the chord notes that go with that root note will
> harmonize very fully and smoothly with the root note and will reinforce it
> in several ways, making for great, full-sounding, ringing chords. However,
> some of the individual notes in a scale constructed this way can sound out
> of tune when played as melody notes, and the problem gets worse as you add
> notes from the chromatic scale.
>
> History is full of compromises and workarounds for the opposing problems
> inherent in these two solutions.
>
> Winslow
>
> --- On Tue, 9/2/08, Arnold Wiliem wrote:
> From: Arnold Wiliem
> Subject: [Harp-L] Question: Equal Temperament Tuning on Golden MElody
> To: "Harp L Harp L"
> Date: Tuesday, September 2, 2008, 8:54 PM
>
> Dear All,
>
> I know this is a newbie question. But until now, I don't get it what're
> the
> advantages and differences the Equal temperament tuning on Hohner Golden
> Melody compared to other tuning arrangement? Is it possible for me to tell
> the tuning type just from ears? Could you guys give me an example (a melody
> or song) that shows the differences?
>
>
> Cheers,
> Arnold
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Harp-L is sponsored by SPAH, http://www.spah.org
> Harp-L@xxxxxxxxxx
> http://harp-l.org/mailman/listinfo/harp-l
>