Re: [Harp-L] Combs/Vern..you online?

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I believe quite a lot of things, the belief of which is based only on faith in what I read, who wrote it, what I can crudely observe, what other people (whose views I may have come to respect over time) think about it. etc.
Hence I believe the world is round etc. etc.
I believe the materials a harmonica is made from do not effect the sound. I used  fervently to believe otherwise.
I would, however, like to post some musings which tend either one way or the other in proving true or untrue effect of materials, or calling it into question.
Vern, I think it was, years ago described the free reed as a 'siren'. We had a siren instead of a bell at my primary school. It was a rotating device with blades inside it, probably an ex WWII air-raid siren.
When I was young, I used to make 'bull-roarers' (in imitation of the instrument used by some indigenous Australians in sacred rites) by putting a hole at the end of a school ruler, attaching a string and whirling it around. It produced a sound similar to a fan or aeroplane propellor, and the pitch was raised or lowered depending on how fast you twirled it. (Quite an ominous sound!)
On a tour some years ago, our pilot let on that he played harmonica too, and that he had a good ear which helped him synchronise the engines on his twin engined Cessna, which he proceeded to demonstrate by adjusting the twin throttles till he had flattened out the 'beat' produced by the two engines running at their slightly different speeds.
I can see clearly that neither the 'bull roarer' nor the aeroplane prop. were producing sound because their mass was vibrating; they were simply making the air pulsate by their passage fluctuating passage through it.
Next: I notice that a piece of plastic (or cloth or paper) that is hung out of a car window while it is moving at a sufficient speed will vibrate or perhaps 'flutter' and produce a sound with a definite pitch, similar to the prop or the 'roarer.
While someone might argue that the aero-prop and the 'roarer/school-ruler-on-a-string could be shown to have resonances manifest in their own mass EG - hold the ruler with one end on a table and 'twang' the part overhanging; strike the aluminium or wooden prop with something hard and it will probably go 'clong! - I don't think that I could be lead to believe that the piece of plastic,cloth, paper etc. could be demonstrated to produce sound by the vibration of their own masses (try hanging up a piece of polythene and striking it!)
I believe that the, prop, the 'roarer and the fluttering plastic etc. are beating the air to produce a vibration, and no sound is emanating from the mass of the matter itself.
But hang on; if I stretch the plastic, cloth, paper, between two points and give it a gentle 'twang', doesn't it produce a note? Yes! Now, how is that sound being produced? Is not the mass and material concerned here?
When one end of the ruler is held down on the table, and it is 'twanged', are we not hearing the sound of the mass vibrating?
When I 'twang' (or 'plink') a harmonica reed, is not the sound produced the vibration of its mass?
When the reed is vibrated by my breath, is not SOME of the sound being produced in the same way as if I had  plucked, plinked or twanged it?
The aero-prop I imagine is effectively rigid as it spins, as ie the 'roarer.
But the fluttering plastic protruding from the car door, and the ruler on the table, are being stretched and released, and, while clearly acting for  the most part, if not all, as a siren, could be said to be influencing the sound by vibration of their own mass, just as a rubber band (or guitar string?) might.
I still cannot, when it comes right down to it, quite see the difference between a struck bell, or plucked guitar string vibrating the air and thus vibrating our ear drums, and the breath activated reed vibrating the air.
I think the answer lies somewhere in the fact that the pitch of the bell or guitar string cannot be altered by causing it to vibrate faster or slower (ie hitting, plucking harder or softer) because the note is inherent in its mass; whereas the reed, plastic, prop, roarer produces a different pitch depending on the speed of its oscillation.
But then why does the harp-reed produce the same pitch when it is plucked as when it is blown?
When we pluck the harp reed, are we hearing a siren, or, effectively, a bell (or kalimba tine, guitar string etc.)
I'm not interested in a heated exchange; I'm just interested in the way my harmonica works.
Hmm...that should produce nothing  but befuddlement and silence, or keep this topic on the boil for a while longer yet!

Your responses, ladies & gents?
RD

>>> George Brooks <gbrooksvt@xxxxxxxxxxx> 20/09/2008 14:04 >>>
But which is more important, the player's subjective impression of tone 
or what the audience hears?  I agree that if what the player hears is 
not satisfying, the performance will suffer.  Other than that secondary 
effect, I think the most important thing, by far, is the audience's 
experience of the performance, not the performer's.

I used to play in a Latin acoustic band.  We had a female vocalist for 
a time, and she was very good.  One day, she arrived at a gig and 
announced that she had a terrible cold and felt lousy.  I told her she 
would do fine and that the audience would probably never know.  Her 
reply was that she felt really rotten and was not going to have any 
fun.  I told her that it was much more important that she sound good 
than that she feel good.  Her reply, which she delivered with obvious 
skepticism edging perhaps into hostility: "REALLY?"  She was not with 
the group much longer.

If you play privately, your private enjoyment ought to be paramount.  
If you perform for others, I believe the enjoyment of your audience 
ought to be paramount.  I do not believe that it makes even the 
slightest difference to your audience whether your comb is made of 
wood, metal, or concrete.

George



  

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