Harmonica
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- This revision was by author hstraub and made on 2012-07-02 10:50:09 UTC.
- The original revision id was 349717602.
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Original Wikitext content:
All instruments with free metal reeds can, principally, be retuned. In the case of harmonicas, it is even sort of common practice. There are quite a number of videos in the web showing step by step how retuning is done, for example by [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQqMIhBCQCY&feature=related|Håkan Ehn]] . A lot of 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 (starting on E or "sort of Db" on a C harmonica): [[media type="file" key="Harmonica5EDO.mp3" width="240" height="20"]] Near-5edo scale, standard diatonic harmonica in C (amateurish attempt) Besides, it is possible to play a [[Cube Root of P4|CRP4]] scale (starting on F, F# or G on a C harmonica) and a [[4edf|4EDF]] scale (starting on F on a C harmonica) - both not up to the octave, but over the respective equivalence interval. XXX 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>All instruments with free metal reeds can, principally, be retuned. In the case of harmonicas, it is even sort of common practice.<br /> <br /> There are quite a number of videos in the web showing step by step how retuning is done, for example by <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQqMIhBCQCY&feature=related" rel="nofollow">Håkan Ehn</a> .<br /> <br /> A lot of 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 "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-<a class="wiki_link" href="/5edo">5edo</a> scale on a standard harmonica (starting on E or "sort of Db" on a C harmonica):<br /> <br /> <!-- ws:start:WikiTextMediaRule:0:<img src="http://www.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/file-audio/Harmonica5EDO.mp3?h=20&w=240" class="WikiMedia WikiMediaFile" id="wikitext@@media@@type=&quot;file&quot; key=&quot;Harmonica5EDO.mp3&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; height=&quot;20&quot;" title="Local Media File"height="20" width="240"/> --><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 /> Besides, it is possible to play a <a class="wiki_link" href="/Cube%20Root%20of%20P4">CRP4</a> scale (starting on F, F# or G on a C harmonica) and a <a class="wiki_link" href="/4edf">4EDF</a> scale (starting on F on a C harmonica) - both not up to the octave, but over the respective equivalence interval.<br /> <br /> XXX<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>