Re: Diatonic, Enharmonic, Chromatic

shunt@mindscape.com
Mon, 13 Jan 97 11:10:32 PST

Referring to a harp as tuned 'Enharmonically' might, in this case,
refer to using what is called 'just' intonation. The piano, for
example, is tuned to approximate intervals, which are not harmonically
exact, but which sound relatively correct regardless of what key you
are in; this is a compromise to allow a single instrument to be played
in a variety of keys, which is common in modern music. A harp can be
tuned, for example starting from C, to the exact fifth, third, etc.
from C. This will actually differ slightly from the same notes on a
piano (slightly sharp or flat depending on which interval). The
musical upshot of this is that harmonies sound more 'true' than on an
even-tempered instrument like the piano, and discords are more
pronounced. Harpsichords, for example, often had more than one
keyboard, each tuned perfectly for a specific key.
One of the downsides of this is that if you are playing an
instrument that is tuned to 'just' intonation, your intervals will be
slightly out of tune with an even-tempered instrument. Electronic
tuners generally check for even-temperament, so are not the best
indicator for 'just' tuning.
Harps, historically, were almost certainly tuned to a specific key,
as the only referent for tuning would be using the instrument's
harmonics to tune with, which yields just intonation by default.
I usually tune my wire harp this way; the results are more
noticeable on a wire harp than on a nylon harp, and can be very
dramatic; a 'true' chord in this tuning is noticeable different than a
chord on an even-tempered instrument. One other neat effect is that
when you are really well tuned harmonically, the entire harp will
'sing', as notes trigger harmonics from other strings across the harp;
this is pretty subtle (generally only the player can tell), but it
really is magical...

Thanx...
Sean
Thanx...
Sean

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Diatonic, Enharmonic, Chromatic
Author: rscheckler@edgewood.edu (rolliana scheckler) at INTERNET
Date: 1/12/97 5:41 PM

for Mitzi and Ed

Diatonic Dia = across; tonic = a scale that has tonic note or "home
base" (in the diatonic scale: "do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti", each scale
tone "leads" the listener toward the tonic note which is "do").

Enharmonic Same sound, different note spelling. For example g# and
a-flat have the same sound. (Violinists will argue that they are not
EXACTLY the same, but they are close enough for our purposes.)

Chromatic Uses lots of sharps and flats. Chroma = "color". In early
manuscripts the accidentals, that is, the sharps and flats not in the key
signature, but added occasionally throughout a piece, were actually written
in colored ink, presumably to be easily readable. Metaphorically, even
today, we speak of music with lots of sharps and flats as being "colorful".
A chromatic scale goes like this: c, c#, d, d#, e,f,f#, etc. You could
use flats, too, if desired, usually for downward chromatic passages. A
chromatic instrument has all the possible naturals, sharps, and flats in a
scale available--the piano, the pedal harp, the cross-strung harp and the
Welsh triple harp are chromatic instruments.

On the pedal harp, all strings (with pedals off) are tuned to flats. Move
the F pedal one notch and ALL the F-flats on the entire harp become
F-natural; move the F pedal to the next notch and all the F strings become
F#. So if you want to play F# in one octave and F-natural in another
octave simultaneously, and you've used your pedal to set F#'s which affects
all octaves, you can't play the one F-natural on an F-string. You'll need
to pluck the e-string with pedal on the second notch to set it to E#. E#
and F-natural are "enharmonic"; they sound the same. This is where the
lever harp has an advantage. You can simultaneously play F-natural in one
octave and F-sharp in another octave, if you ever wanted to. (Might sound
weird--but Hey!)
Rolliana Scheckler