Re: [Harp-L] chrom tuning

[philharpn@xxxxxxx]

Actually, the solo tuned chromatic IS tuned like a piano. The relationship of the notes in an octave are the same no matter where an octave is played on a piano. 


The chromatic solo tuned is designed that that each octave in the key of the harmonica maintains the same relationship as the notes in each octave.


Some see the starting C and ending C for each octave on the solo tuned C harmonica as redundant. Others realize it for what it is: the blow draw pattern is the same for each octave.


Veteran chromatic players play the higher of the two Cs when ascending and the lower of the two Cs on descending music lines. This way, they don't lose their place and always know which C they are playing.


The diatonic has a different pattern for each octave. Some people like the first octave of the richter harp so well that they order from the factory double richter (or even triple richter) which allows more bent notes in a  familiar pattern.


The keyboard (piano) started out with different notes for the enharmonic C# and Db ect. which greatly limited the number of notes easily accessible. So it didn't last.


The richter haronica was designed to provide the I chord and V chord in the first octave that cou;d be corner-blocked while playing melody notes in the corner in the middle and top octave.


The first chromatic harmonicas were designed on the richter model. Later the solo-tuned was added. (Or maybe they developed at the same time!?)


The piano can work with an uneven pattern of notes and still maintain the same note relationship in each octave. 


That won't work on the harmonica with out the double tonic root notes. 


The other thing about the solo tuned chromatic is that they are mostly  tuned with equal temperament while diatonics are just or just/compromised tuning. Thus they sound different because they are different. Nowadays, just or just-compromised tuning can be ordered from the factory.  So the timbre sounds the same even if the note layouts are different.


Harmonicas are like tools: some are multifunctional, others are specific task. 


The chromatic is basically no more difficult to play than the richter -- once the player understand the note layout of the two. And anybody who has difficulty navigating a chrome must have difficulty working the middle octave on a diatonic.


To expect a solo tuned harmonica to bend notes-- multiple pitches (double reed)   like a richter tuned harp is unreal. 


A sax and trumpet play and perform differently but that doesn't make one superior to the other; just different. Same with the chrome and diatonic.


 Hope this helps.


Just get the right tool --er harp -- for the job.
Phil



-----Original Message-----
From: Music Cal <macaroni9999@xxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-L list <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tue, May 13, 2014 12:59 pm
Subject: [Harp-L] chrom tuning


For those of you that think that one tuning is as good as the next I ask
you this: Would you tune a piano like the solo-tuned chromatic harmonica?
This would mean repeated pitches, which sometimes appear a few piano keys
down stream from the others, and in addition, rather than always increasing
in pitch as one goes from left to right across the keyboard, sometimes the
pitches would descend.

Really? ... Really?

Daniel