Re: [Harp-L] spiral tuning tuning

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

Winslow;
              What do you make of Joseph Spence, with regard to tuning etc.? Are we not overloading this simple folk
instrument wth impossible expectation?

Rick 'up late-2' Dempster
Aust.,
'burned out' Victoria

>>> Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> 17/02/09 6:46 PM >>>
Is it a diatonic tuning or a chromatic tuning?

If chromatic (either because the harmonica will have a slide or because the spiral tuning itself spirals through the chromatic scale) then 12TET is your most straightforward choice.

If it's diatonic then sweetening intervals might me OK. But it could open a can of worms.

One thing about spiral tuning that is different from other diatonic tunings is that  EVERY note is the third of a chord. So, for instance, making your fifths pure by raising them 2 cents from 12TET will also affect their qualities as thirds.

For instance, let's say you start with the note sequence C-E-G-B. If you lower E by 14 cents for a pure major third, and also raise G by 2 cents, you have a rather large minor third between E and G - 316 cents, but this is an acoustically pure interval and sounds nice enough. B can be 14 cents lower than G, which will put it in a pure fifth relationship with E.

So far so good. But as you go up you're raising your fifths by 2 cents and lowering your major thirds by 14 cents. As a net result, when you arrive back at C two octaves higher in Hole 8, the note is 8 cents flat compared to C two octaves lower.

I don't want to think about the opposite bank of notes (D-F-A-C-E-G etc); it's too late at night to ccome up with anything likely to sound pleasant. :)

I wonder if anyone sane has tackled this problem.

Winslow

Winslow Yerxa

Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5

--- On Sun, 2/15/09, ynfdwas@xxxxxxxxx <ynfdwas@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: ynfdwas@xxxxxxxxx <ynfdwas@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] spiral tuning tuning
To: "Harp-L@Harp-L. Org" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 4:19 PM

would spiral tuning be best served with equal
temperament? or compromised thirds?       


 

Robert Hale, "the Duke Of Wail"
http://www.dukeofwail.com/
Gilbert, Arizona

 
 
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