[Harp-L] Re: The Golden Melody is not solo tuned

[Michael Snowden <mike.snowden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Winslow - you are correct to say that this is not "solo tuning" as a layout - a standard GM is a Richter tuned harp.  However incorrectly, I have heard this referred to as a soloIST tuning, and that's what I meant - apologies for any confusion vs different note layouts.

Mike




________________________________
 From: Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Michael Snowden <mike.snowden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; Eliza Doolittle <eliza.doolittle@xxxxxxxx>; "ericbarnak@xxxxxxxxx" <ericbarnak@xxxxxxxxx> 
Cc: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>; "captron100@xxxxxxx" <captron100@xxxxxxx> 
Sent: Monday, 31 March 2014, 16:57
Subject: The Golden Melody is not solo tuned
 


Solo tuning does not refer to Equal temperament. You're confusing temperament with note layout.

Solo tuning is a note layout used on chromatic harmonicas. Every octave has all seven notes of the key of the harmonica (usually C, but several other keys are available). And all the notes stay in the same place relative to one another.

Diatonics, by contrast, including the Golden Melody, have two notes missing in the first octave (F and A on a C-harp), and at Hole 7 the blow notes and draw notes shift their relationship so that the blow note is higher pitched than the draw note.

Solo tuning takes the middle octave of the diatonic (Holes 4 thru 7) and just repeats it for however many holes are on that model of chromatic (8, 10, 12, 14, or 16 holes).

Winslow
 
Winslow Yerxa
President, SPAH, the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica
Producer, the Spring 2014 Harmonica Collective
Author, Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
            Harmonica Basics For Dummies, ASIN B005KIYPFS
            Blues Harmonica For Dummies, ISBN 978-1-1182-5269-7
Resident Expert, bluesharmonica.com
Instructor, Jazzschool for Music Study and Performance


________________________________
 From: Michael Snowden <mike.snowden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Eliza Doolittle <eliza.doolittle@xxxxxxxx>; "ericbarnak@xxxxxxxxx" <ericbarnak@xxxxxxxxx> 
Cc: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>; "captron100@xxxxxxx" <captron100@xxxxxxx> 
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2014 7:01 AM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] gold cover plates on Hohner Golden Melody (was Question	about harps played by Bobby Darin)
 

Eliza - for me, the definitive reference on Harp intonation is Pat Missin's pages, complete with audio examples.

http://www.patmissin.com/tunings/tunings.html


The golden Melody is sometimes known
 as "Solo tuned", which pretty much sums it up - a soloist in front of an orchestra.  Chord tuning gives you a beefier tone when playing chords (and possibly resonant effects); on a diatonic harp, that extra thickness and bite helps, particularly in blues. You can do it with diatonics, because (unless you are Howard Levy), they are strongly keyed instruments, and that is why it is almost always used.

I'm principally a guitarist, and I know I can't tune a guitar to perfect chord intervals using pure harmonic intervals, so I have always been aware of the difference; I have to back off to get an even fretboard.

Mike




________________________________

From: Eliza Doolittle <eliza.doolittle@xxxxxxxx>
To: "ericbarnak@xxxxxxxxx" <ericbarnak@xxxxxxxxx> 
Cc: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>; "captron100@xxxxxxx" <captron100@xxxxxxx> 
Sent: Monday, 31 March 2014, 14:37
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] gold cover plates on Hohner Golden Melody (was Question about harps played by
 Bobby Darin)



Eric wrote:
> Its comb is darker than present day GM's, more like plum or maroon. I just
> played around a little bit with the one I have: It does not seem to be in
> Equal Tempered tuning--the chords sound smooth.

Ron wrote:
> then the standard GM tuning of equal temperment, which is also the tuning
> that is used on Lee Oskar harps.  I believe that the GM is the only Hohner
> diatonic harp that is tuned to equal temperament instead of just tuning or
> their more modern comprise tuning.


When I read Ron's post a couple of days ago I looked up in the archives, but I didn't find any post related to equal temperament (it seems hardly possible, so maybe the
 search engine wasn't working all right (?)). Anyway, if Hohner uses (with the exception of the Golden Melody) just tuning, and so does Lee Oskar (I don't know about other brands), is it considered a better way of tuning the harps? I mean, even if the chords sound better with just tuning, if harps often play along with instruments that use equal temperament (keyboards or guitars), wouldn't they sound better using equal temperament, too? I suppose that many harp players play with other people, so it's strange that there aren't more harps using equal temperament.

Not that I know much about the different ways of tuning, though. I've been playing piano all my life, not worring about having to play in tune or about tuning my instrument to play with other people (it is always they who must tune to play with me), and to me, just tuning only means that the string players boasted that they played a B flat differently from an A
 sharp, which always bemused me.