Re: [Harp-L] Re: Embouchure for tuning



I've never found pitches needing to settle after filing or scraping to tune. If you're tweaking any gaps in the process, that can throw them.

On May 20, 2013, at 7:24 AM, Lasse HÃi <hoeilasse@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Thanks guys, it makes a lot of sense and confirms my initial assumptions.
> 
> Another question: Do you do anything in particular to make the reeds
> settle between filing and readings? Because it seems that a reed that
> was tuned up will rise a little more after some playing time.
> 
> My ideas are:
> - Simply playing a long note on the newly tuned reed
> - Wide blow/draw chords in rapid patterns for 10 seconds or more
> - Bending each hole a couple of times
> - Temperature cycling, e.g. heating it up to about 65 or ? degress
> Celsius (65 C is what i use in my ultrasonic cleaner)
> 
> 2013/5/20 Steve Baker <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>> Lasse wrote:
>> So... should I always try to adjust my embouchure to get the highest
>> possible pitch?
>> 
>> Steve responds:
>> Tuning harmonicas is not an exact science, in fact it can be a very
>> confusing area to deal with. Playing every note at its highest possible
>> pitch when tuning minimizes potential confusion. I do this by breathing (as
>> Joe Spiers wisely recommends) softly from the diaphragm and often also allow
>> a little air to pass between my lips and the instrument in order to minimize
>> the pressure difference between inside and outside. You need to relax and
>> also learn to listen closely to the sounding pitch of the reed so you can
>> hear if it's resonating at its highest possible frequency, or if there's
>> still some headroom because you're bending it down. I tune without covers as
>> it's more convenient and haven't really noticed any major variance between
>> tuning values with and without covers when breathing in this way.
>> 
>> The reason for doing it like this:
>> The highest pitch which the reed can produce is the only constant available.
>> Any pitch below the highest one possible is basically a bent note, its
>> intonation is dependent on the player. The degree to which reed pitch is
>> unintentionally lowered varies considerably from one person to another. When
>> tuning to any given set of tuning values, the actual result can therefore
>> vary widely if you're not playing the reed at the highest possible pitch. If
>> you're tuning your own harps, you may well be able to achieve the desired
>> result using a higher air pressure and tuning to "playing pitch", but if
>> you're doing it for anyone else, the results may diverge quite a bit from
>> what they want. I use a basic reference tone of A=443Hz when breathing as
>> described above, this generally works out OK when playing with other
>> instruments.
>> 
>> Steve Baker
>> www.stevebaker.de
>> www.european-music-workshops.com
>> www.harmonica-masters.de
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 




This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.