From: Winslow Yerxa <76450.32~ompuServe.COM> Date: 31 Aug 96 14:16:23 EDT Subject: Chromatic Tunings, Part I
TO: internet:harp~arply.com
OK, I apologize for my cheap crack equating tuning systems to ideology. I was not implying that Wim was a communist, only trying to dramatize the tradeoffs between a tuning system that offers greater possibilities with greater difficulties, and one that makes things more uniform but robs the player of valuable choices.
So, what are the pluses and minuses of various tuning systems for the chromatic?
Well, the most simple and straightforward is a tuning used in some Hohner Polyphonia models, where the blow and draw note are the same and there is one semitone per hole:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ================================================== DRAW: | | | | | | | | | | | | C | C# | D | D# | E | F | F# | G | G# | A | etc. +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ | | | | | | | | | | | BLOW: | C | C# | D | D# | E | F | F# | G | G# | A | etc. ==================================================
With this tuning, no slide is needed, nor any windsaver valves. You can use any breathing pattern you like, and by tongue blocking you can create harmonic intervals - or trills - of a whole tone, minor third, major third, or even larger, on any note in the chromatic scale.
The downside is that it is hard to play cleanly anything that is *not* a chromatic scale, and it is hard to move long distances quickly.
An existing tuning that very few have chosen to master.
The system of two-blow & two-draw notes per hole puts far more notes in a much smaller space. But does it require a slide and valves? No. The Tombo S-50 chromatic uses standard tuning, but eliminates slide and valves, putting each note in its own hole with a curved mouthpiece, which you can rock up and down to move between the C and C# reedplates.
But the slideless system still requires you to travel, bother vertically and horizontally to each individual reed. The slide system allows you to play four different notes without moving anywhere at all, and players have chosen the ease of this solution, even with all the slide and valve problems that come with it.
So, what are some possibilities for tuning the standard slide chromatic?
There are two general kinds - UNIFORM TUNINGS DiATONIC TUNINGS
For reasons of length, I'll deal with uniform tunings in this post, and with diatonic tunings in another
UNIFORM TUNINGS are tunings where each hole is tuned the same. This includes the augmented-triad tuning that Wim and I have come up with at different times, and the whole-tone tuning published by Richard Hunter.
==== AUGMENTED TRIAD TUNING
My old tuning, recently proposed by Wim (by the way, I still possess the tarnished and be-grimed instrument to prove that I did indeed make such an instrument many years ago - any attempt to patent this idea would be an uphill battle, as I'm sure others before me have also documented the idea) simply moves the note up one whole tone each time the breath is changed in a hole. By doing this, and having the slide to raise each note a semitone, a complete chromatic scale is produced, each hole having the range of a minor third:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ============================================================ DRAWSLIDE | Eb | G | B | Eb | G | B | Eb | G | B | Eb | G | B | _____________________________________________________________ DRAW | D | F# | A# | D | F# | A# | D | F# | A# | D | F# | A# | ============================================================ BLOWSLIDE | Db | F | A | Db | F | A | Db | F | A | Db | F | A | _____________________________________________________________ BLOW | C | E | G# | C | E | G# | C | E | G# | C | E | G# | ============================================================
ADVANTAGES
- - Uniformity of tuning - - No side-by-side note duplications (double C) - - Four octaves in only 13 holes - - only four key positions to learn - - Easy to arpeggiate minor triads
DISADVANTAGES
- - No alternate notes (e.g. Draw C, Blow F) - - No side-by-side same-breath intervals smaller than a minor 3rd (i.e. not whole-tone trills - - Only six semitone trills - - No harmonic intervals smaller than a Major third - - No harmonic intervals other than Major third or its inversion (mi6) or compound (Major 10th) - - impossible to play harmonized lines or partial chords with a line in any key (Wim may not like harmonies on the chromatic, but many other players do, and won't consider an instrument that does not afford these possibilities) - - Awkward to apreggiate major triads - - hard to find where you are by the tuning
==== WHOLE TONE TUNING
This tuning could easily be built from a diatonic harmonica without resorting to a slide at all:
================================================================= DRAW | C# | D# | F | G | A | B | C# | D# | F | G | A | B | C# | __________________________________________________________________ BLOW | C | D | E | F# | G# | A# | C | D | E | F# | G# | A# | C | =================================================================
But building it with a slide, a la Richard Hunter, gives an advantage:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ================================================================= DRAWSLIDE | C | D | E | F# | G# | A# | C | D | E | F# | G# | A# | C | __________________________________________________________________ DRAW | C# | D# | F | G | A | B | C# | D# | F | G | A | B | C# | ================================================================= BLOWSLIDE | C# | D# | F | G | A | B | C# | D# | F | G | A | B | C# | __________________________________________________________________ BLOW | C | D | E | F# | G# | A# | C | D | E | F# | G# | A# | C | =================================================================
This way, any note is available as either blow or draw, making for maximum possible smoothness in phrasing. Coupled with corner-switching, potentially any melody could be played with a complete legato.
ADVANTAGES
- - Only ONE key position to learn - - All semitone trills available - - All whole tone trills available - - Complete legato theoretically possible
DISADVANTAGES
- - Takes 13 holes to cover only two octaves - - Intervals wider than minor 3rd require leap or corner switch - - No harmonic intervals except Major 2nds, so no harmonized lines - - Widest adjacent-hole same-breath interval is Minor 3rd - - Hard to find where you are by the tuning
==== STACKED WHOLE TONE TUNING
One of the odd things about Richard's tuning is that it doesn't offer the familiar rising pattern one expects. What if we did this instead?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ================================================================= DRAWSLIDE | D# | F | G | A | B | C# | D# | F | G | A | B | C# | D# | __________________________________________________________________ DRAW | D | E | F# | G# | A# | C | D | E | F# | G# | A# | C | D | ================================================================= BLOWSLIDE | C# | D# | F | G | A | B | C# | D# | F | G | A | B | C# | __________________________________________________________________ BLOW | C | D | E | F# | G# | A# | C | D | E | F# | G# | A# | C | =================================================================
Each note is still available as both blow and draw, but we can now travel a perfect 4th (as in C to F) in the neighboring hole, instead of having to leap. And we get the familiar sensation of having the pitch steadily rise as we blow, press the slide, draw, and press the slide again.
==== MINOR 3RD TUNING
By tuning each successive hole a minor 3rd apart, we get this tuning:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ============================================================ DRAWSLIDE | Eb | Gb | A | C | Eb | Gb | A | C | Eb | Gb | A | C | _____________________________________________________________ DRAW | D | F | Ab | B | D | F | Ab | B | D | D | Ab | B | ============================================================ BLOWSLIDE | C# | E | G | Bb | C# | E | G | Bb | C# | E | G | Bb | _____________________________________________________________ BLOW | C | Eb | Gb | A | C | Eb | Gb | A | C | Eb | Gb | A | ============================================================
This duplicates the bottom row of blow notes as slide-in notes. Blow-draw duplications are an advantage, and this offers more of them than standard tuning. This tuning takes the same number of holes to complete an octave as standard tuning, but with no side-by-side C's.
8 out of 12 semitone trills are available, and also 8 out of 12 whole tone trills (with simultaneous slide and hole change, starting on lower slide-in notes).
Harmonic intervals are limited to minor 3rds, allowing limited harmonization of lines, but more than with augmented tuning (most diatonic scales contain more minor 3rds than majors).
Adjacent-hole same-breath intervals can be expanded or contracted with the slide to major 2nds or Major 3rds
ADVANTAGES
- - Only 3 key positions to learn - - Alternate versions of 4 notes - - Good, tho incomplete set of trills - - No double C's - - Large number of notes in compact space
DISADVANTAGES
- - Limited adjacent-hole interval choices no minor 2nds or 4ths - - hard to find where you are by the tuning-
Of course, these observations only scratch the surface. The real test of playability for any of these tunings would be not only the smoothness and simplicity of action in playing scales and arpeggios, which we've only brushed on here, but also the ease of actually using any of these tuning to play real music.
