John's posting raised another issue, though probably inadvertently: HARP harmonics. They're ALWAYS notated simply with an "o" - and production of the sound is left to the player. Believe me: every harp, and in fact, every STRING - has its own sweet spot for harmonic production. Increasingly, that's exactly the same sort of "leave it to me" attitude my string players prefer - and sure, it might be a little difficult in a sightreading situation for string players unfamiliar with a notational preference; there's the potential for misunderstanding if the intent is unclear. But - my players have become well-aware that (at least in any of my arrangements or original works) the notated pitch, with "o" above: means: harmonic, with each player's knowledge of their own instrument depended-upon to produce the wanted pitch. Neither natural or artificial, but simply: "two octaves above, harmonic: as YOU know your instrument's ability to produce it."
And we never have a problem, even in sightreading - or even with new players. Yes, I know this is nearly radical in its departure from traditional notation to some, but - well: there you have it! Les Marsden (209) 966-6988 Cell: (559) 708-6027 (Emergency only) 7145 Snyder Creek Road Mariposa, CA 95338-9641 Founding Music Director and Conductor, The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra Music and Mariposa? Ahhhhh, Paradise!!! Mariposa County Planning Commissioner, District 5 First Vice-President, The Mariposa County Arts Council, Inc. Board Director, The Economic Development Corporation of Mariposa County http://arts-mariposa.org/symphony.html Marsden Marx Pages: http://tinyurl.com/ygpj7og ----- Original Message ----- From: John Howell To: finale@shsu.edu Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2010 6:34 PM Subject: Re: [Finale] {Spam} String harmonics 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. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
