Harmonica

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Revision as of 08:55, 5 June 2012 by Wikispaces>hstraub (**Imported revision 342765048 - Original comment: **)
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This revision was by author hstraub and made on 2012-06-05 08:55:15 UTC.
The original revision id was 342765048.
The revision comment was:

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Original Wikitext content:

=Microtonal harmonica= 

All instruments with free metal reeds can, principally, be retuned. In the case of harmonicas, it is even sort of common practice.

Step-by step instructions how to retune harmonicas (and a lot of other information on harmonicas and tuning) can be found on [[http://www.patmissin.com/tunings/tunings.html|Pat Missin's homepage]].

Not to forget is that, in the case of the diatonic harmonica (aka "blues harp"), the playing technique known as "bending" already allows, within certain limits, infinite pitch variations, even without retuning. For example, it is possible to play a near-[[5edo]] scale on a standard harmonica:

[[media type="file" key="Harmonica5EDO.mp3" width="240" height="20"]]
Near-5edo scale, standard diatonic harmonica in C (amateurish attempt)

The same property makes the harmonica very well suited to play [[Arabic, Turkish, Persian|middle-eastern]] and [[indian]] music. See separate page [[maqamat on harmonica]] .

These points - and the fact that the instrument is small and cheap - make the harmonica a good candidate as a gateway to microtonal music.

Original HTML content:

<html><head><title>Harmonica</title></head><body><!-- ws:start:WikiTextHeadingRule:1:&lt;h1&gt; --><h1 id="toc0"><a name="Microtonal harmonica"></a><!-- ws:end:WikiTextHeadingRule:1 -->Microtonal harmonica</h1>
 <br />
All instruments with free metal reeds can, principally, be retuned. In the case of harmonicas, it is even sort of common practice.<br />
<br />
Step-by step instructions how to retune harmonicas (and a lot of other information on harmonicas and tuning) can be found on <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.patmissin.com/tunings/tunings.html" rel="nofollow">Pat Missin's homepage</a>.<br />
<br />
Not to forget is that, in the case of the diatonic harmonica (aka &quot;blues harp&quot;), the playing technique known as &quot;bending&quot; already allows, within certain limits, infinite pitch variations, even without retuning. For example, it is possible to play a near-<a class="wiki_link" href="/5edo">5edo</a> scale on a standard harmonica:<br />
<br />
<!-- ws:start:WikiTextMediaRule:0:&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/file-audio/Harmonica5EDO.mp3?h=20&amp;w=240&quot; class=&quot;WikiMedia WikiMediaFile&quot; id=&quot;wikitext@@media@@type=&amp;quot;file&amp;quot; key=&amp;quot;Harmonica5EDO.mp3&amp;quot; width=&amp;quot;240&amp;quot; height=&amp;quot;20&amp;quot;&quot; title=&quot;Local Media File&quot;height=&quot;20&quot; width=&quot;240&quot;/&gt; --><embed src="/s/mediaplayer.swf" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" quality="high" width="240" height="20" wmode="transparent" flashvars="file=http%253A%252F%252Fxenharmonic.wikispaces.com%252Ffile%252Fview%252FHarmonica5EDO.mp3?file_extension=mp3&autostart=false&repeat=false&showdigits=true&showfsbutton=false&width=240&height=20"></embed><!-- ws:end:WikiTextMediaRule:0 --><br />
Near-5edo scale, standard diatonic harmonica in C (amateurish attempt)<br />
<br />
The same property makes the harmonica very well suited to play <a class="wiki_link" href="/Arabic%2C%20Turkish%2C%20Persian">middle-eastern</a> and <a class="wiki_link" href="/indian">indian</a> music. See separate page <a class="wiki_link" href="/maqamat%20on%20harmonica">maqamat on harmonica</a> .<br />
<br />
These points - and the fact that the instrument is small and cheap - make the harmonica a good candidate as a gateway to microtonal music.</body></html>