[Harp-L] Tuning my harmonica using normal breath force.

JPMUNTZ jpmuntz@xxxxx
Mon May 25 12:57:28 EDT 2020



Hello,

My goal was to tune my harmonica in C. All I read on the subject was generally to use minimal breath force, but I’m not sure it’s the best way to do it. So I need to challenge my way of thinking and my method. Better is to ask, I think all has been tried.

Let say that you’re tuning blow reads, and 442 hz as a reference for an «A ».
This means that C4 is  to be tuned to 262.8 hz on hole 1 and C5,  to 525.6 Hz on hole 4. If you’re using minimal breath force, no doubt, you will be able to adjust your reeds. For that, I’m here using the Hohner Harmonica Tuner (which is able to measure beats) and gString tuner to give me the frequency (and the cents as well but for one note).
Let say you have done it properly, both Tools are measuring « 0 cent » for C4 and C5.
Now, if you’re breathing strongly, you will notice that C4 is roughly down to 20 cents and C5 only 10.
>From that, imho 
- There is no way to have a perfect tuning for your octaves at a minimal breath force which works at normal breath.  Using normal or stronger breath force, you will hear the beats at play because C4 and C5 will vary in a different way (C4 on hole 1 is reacting stronger). 
- At a normal same breath force C4 and C5 will both be wrong, and because you used minimal breath force to tune, your error will be stronger at the normal level when playing (you should have tuned at normal play for better result, you will not avoid to be wrong at low or higher level, but you’ll be globally better on average most of the time). 

You can fix it for single notes (i mean you won’t hear it), but you can’t when playing octaves or chords.

Generally, the answer is « next step, use your ears to tune » your octaves, ie using minimal breath is just here a starting point.
But if both of your holes are not exactly at the good frequency, you will propagate the error when tuning octaves or thirds because you have no reference for 2 or 3 notes at a same time.

My readings from Andrew Zajac approach (tune using breath dynamics) make me think there could be a better direction.

So, to (try to) fix it, I finally used a frequency generator, configured first to 262.8 HZ (C4).
And I played my first hole at normal level breath. I tuned to eliminate the beats (I used  my ears for that, and Hohner Harmonica Tuner as well to double check).
Then i did the same for hole 4.
And for the octave, I checked C5 first. C4 was played by the frequency generator (my reference here for the octave) and I played C5 on the harmonica with my normal breath force.
Then I did the same to check that C4 was tuned properly using 525.6 hz as a reference on the frequency generator.
An so on for all the reeds of the blow plate.

I saw benefits from doing that, though it’s a bit long. Am I wrong and are there any drawbacks I didn’t see ?
Obviously, it should more concern low reeds, let say from 1 to 6. Another point is that you’re not obliged to configure your reference to 442 (or even more) for landing at the right frequency, anyhow your breath force is.
Well, how for draw plate ? I figure doing the same.



Thanks for your reply, hope it will help me doing a  better job.

Best Regards

Jean Pierre

Provenance : Courrier pour Windows 10



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