At 5:54 PM -0500 12/12/10, Aaron Sherber wrote:
Hi all,
In notating string harmonics, Forsyth and Gardner Read say that a
notehead with an o over it indicates a natural harmonic, while a
notehead with a diamond notehead a fourth above should be used for
artificial harmonics.
That is ALMOST correct, but incomplete. The harmonic of the 4th (the
fretted note plus a diamond note a 4th above) produces the harmonic 2
octaves above the fretted note. But artificial harmonics include the
harmonic of the 5th as well (both used quite commonly), as well as
the harmonics of the major 3rd and minor 3rd, and even of the major
2nd, but those three are tricky and difficult to produce and should
probably be used only in solo or string quartet music for experienced
players. Advanced players practice these "tight" artificial
harmonics in scales to develop the even "draw" of the bow.
Del Mar, though, says that "according to one school of thought" it's
best to write all harmonics with the o notation, leaving it up to
the player to work out the best way of producing that particular
note.
That might be an out, if you don't understand what you're doing, but
beware: it LOOKS as if it should be a natural harmonic, somewhere,
on some string, but it might not be sightreadable because you are
FORCING the player to stop in the middle of rehearsal and figure out
what the heck you actually want!
For me looking at a score, I do like this latter method, since it
shows the sounding pitches of the harmonics. But I'm not a string
player.
Either way, you'll probably get what you want -- eventually! But if
you want the music sightreadable learn to do it properly for the
player, not for your own convenience. (Which applies to most
notational conventions, of course.)
What do the string players out there think? If you saw a note with a
o over it that could only be produced as an artificial harmonic,
would that be confusing?
Yes, and believe me, we've run into them in Broadway pit books. it
is NEVER clear what the orchestrator wanted, and sometimes we just
have to make something up. This is something, like writing for harp
or giving registrations for pipe organ, that you should not attempt
without knowing exactly what you're doing.
Or would it be clear what is meant?
Perfectly clear if you stick to natural harmonics. Any experienced
string player will recognize them. Well, ... usually. The 2-octave
harmonic above the open string can be played up near the end of the
fingerboard, and often is, but it can also be played by touching the
string a 4th above the open string, and that's ALSO a natural
harmonic. (The harmonic series works at both ends of the strings,
since all you're doing is dividing the vibrating length of the string
into integer partials.)
Now I'm talking mostly about violin and viola. I'm not sure what
cellists use, although with thumb positions they can probably reach
the artificial harmonics of the 4th and 5th. I'm not sure bass
players can reach the harmonic of the 4th, but the natural harmonics
are clear and clean sounding. And they're used all the time in
classical guitar music.
John
--
John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music
Virginia Tech Department of Music
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:john.how...@vt.edu)
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
"We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition
of jazz musicians.
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