Re: [Harp-L] the term "stops"

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Double stop is a violin term, also used on the guitar. It means to play two notes at once. On harmonica, it also has the meaning of playing two notes at once instead of just one.


On violin (and guitar) you can play an open string. Or you can "stop" the string by pressing it to the fingerboard, thus shortening its vibrating length and sounding a higher note. A double stop, therefore, is to play two notes at once on neighboring strings. While the term could be taken to mean that both notes are "stopped" strings, in practice it means any two-note combination, even if one of them is an open string.

The term on harmonica has nothing to do with "stopping" a string along its length. It just refers to playing two notes at once. And it doesn't matter whether the two notes are in neighboring holes or not, though if the two notes are not in neighboring holes, then the combination is called a "split" because you have several holes in your mouth that would normally produce a chord, but by using your tongue to black out the holes in the middle, youre 'splitting" it into two widely separated notes that sound together. So split, unilike "doube stop" and "overblow" is a native harmonica term.

Winslow

 
Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
Harmonica instructor, The Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance
Resident expert, bluesharmonica.com
Columnist, harmonicasessions.com


________________________________
From: Robert Hale <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-L list <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, September 8, 2011 5:02 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] the term "stops"

Why are two notes on the harp called "double stops"? What's the origin
and etymology here? In a pipe organ stops redirect the air to the selected
pipe.

Robert Hale
Learn Harmonica by Webcam
Low Rates, High Success
http://www.youtube.com/DUKEofWAIL <http://www.youtube.com/user/DUKEofWAIL>
http://www.dukeofwail.com