C on hohner # on purpose?

Anne Marie -

I hope I understand your questions correctly.

On the one about why take lessons: Some people are lucky enough to be able to discern what concrete quailities make the difference in music good when they hear it and equally lucky to know what they need to learn to achieve that level of quality. They're also able to objectively hear what they actually sound like, and to know exactly what they need to change about their technique to make a differences - to get where they want to be musically. Most of us aren't that lucky, and get frustrated because we can't figure out what we need to do to get better. A teacher can point out the things you aren't yet aware of and guide you both to awareness and to the techniques to achieve the level of quality you aim for. This can save literally years in your musical development.

On the matter of harmonica tuning.

Tuning has two main components: pitch level, and intonation.

Pitch level is a matter of setting a standard reference pitch and tuning to it. For most of the 20th century, the standard has been A440. That is, the note A above Middle C is standardized as vibrating 440 times per second. From that reference, you can figure out any other note. The problem is that people keep tuning higher than A440, either to achieve a brighter sound (as in orchestras and most musicians in Germany, where A is really 444), or to compensate for other problems. For instance, the harder you blow or draw on a harmonica, the more the pitch goes down. SO most harmonicas are tuned a little sharp to compensate for this.

Intonation for most diatonic harmonicas do not follow what's on a tuner. Tuners by default follow something called 12-tone equal temperament (or just plan equal temperament). This is how pianos are tuned, and equal temperament solves an age-old problem by putting every note slightly out of tune - but by an equal amount.

I should back up and explain something.The notes in a chord that sound most pleasing to the ear are based on really simple ratios like 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1, and 5:1.

For instance, divide a vibrating string in half (ratio of 2:1) and it sounds an octave higher. Sound both those notes together and they will sound absolutely in tune, and they will generate additional notes above and below that are also exactly in tune. All the frequencies (the speed of the vibrations) will be exactly half or double.

Now let's say that low note is C. Divide the string by 1/3 (3:1 ratio) and you get a G above the note you get when you divide the strong in half. Divide the string in 4, another higher C. Divide it by 5 and you get an E.

Now al these C's, Es, and Gs will sound great together, and the sums and differences of their frequencies will all generate a big low C that's perfectly in tune and makes the chord sound even bigger. Harmonica players can exploit these phenomena to make a harmonica sound HUGE - if' it's tuned this way.

Now let's say you take a C harp and tune the notes of the blow chord to those notes. You C chord will sound sweet and huge. You can do the same thing with the draw G chord by tuning to simple rations off the G note: same wonderful result.

This way of tuning is called Just intonation. (Just comes in several flavors, depending on how far you want to go with ratios. For instance, 7-limit just stops at the ratio of 7:1.) The problem comes when you start generating additional notes in reference to these. They start conflicting if you generate the same note two different ways - it will be in tune with one note and out of tune with another note. Start playing in more than one key, and problems get worse.

For centuries, keyboard tuners worked on all sorts of tweaks and tricks to make most things sound sweet and a few things sound incredibly bad. Finally someone said, hell, just spread the out-of-tuneness around in an exactly equal way. Everything will sound sort of OK, and nothing will sound really bad. Problem solved.

Well, the problem isn't solved for harmonicas. Harps are rich in overtones, and you really hear the harshness of chords played in equal temperament. As a result, few harmonicas are in equal (Golden Melody, Suzuki Promaster, and the Fabulous, though you can also get the Fabulous in Just). So most harmonicas are tuned to some version of Just, or to some sort of compromise.

To give you an idea how much Just intonation can vary from Equal. A semitone is 100 cents. On a C harp tuned to the traditional form of Just, the E notes would be 14 cents flat, while the G notes would be 2 cents sharp. The draw F would be something like 31 cents flat - nearly a third of a semitone! This sounds great in a draw chord but sour and flat as a melody note.

If you really want to read up on this as,it relates to the harmonica - and hear audio samples of the differences - you could check out Pat Missin's site: http://www.patmissin.com/tunings/tunings.html

Players like Kim Wilson and Howard Levy take this stuff seriously. If you want to sound or even play like Little Walter or Walter Horton, it makes a big difference if you play harps using the intonation they used. The subtle effects that the tuning has on both chords and melody notes had a strong influence on what and how they played. Howard Levy, on the other hand, flies through several keys in the course of a single phrase, so he favors equal temperament, as he'ss sound seriously out of tune if he doesn't.

Anne Marie -

Sorry to hit you with such a big dollop (or is that wallop!) of information. I guess the main point is that there are really good benefits to be derived from studying this stuff, whether it's you yourself, your teacher, or the customizer who makes your harps sound and play so sweetly.