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From: Pat Missin
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 1996 20:33:23 GMT
Subject: Bobbie's bends

I've followed this discussion between Bobbie and Winslow with great
interest. Just to to recap, Boobie claimed to be able to bend 7 blow on a G
harp (if I remember correctly) down to an F#, when conventional wisdom
states that you can only bend this reed by about a quartertone or so.
Winslow was naturally skeptical of Bobbie's claims, but I am happy to
announce that I think they are both right! I think the musical terminology
is gettin int the way. By this I mean that the pitches for the note names G
and F# are only absolute within a specified system. In my opinion, the only
way to reliably measure pitch differences in this context, is by using the
cents system (where 100 cents is equal to a 12 tone equally tempered
semitone; in simple terms, the difference between two adjacent piano keys).

I took a set of Lee Oskar plates in G major and tuned the reeds in hole 7 to
pure 12TET, ie both the G and the F# were spot on zero on a digital tuning
meter. I could bend the G down by around 90 cents; ie the note produced was
10c above a 12TET F# - I many cases this would represent an "in tune" F#. I
then retuned 7 draw to just intonation (in this case, so that the F# was
- -14c from a 12TET F#). I could then bend the G down to about F# +/- 0c (a
12TET F#).

In both cases I had bent the G down to a note that could be legitimately
called "F#", but in neither case had I bent the blow note down below the
pitch of the draw note. And in neither case did I produce a very nice sound!
There seems to be an unpleasant tonal quality associated with these bends.
However, bending the blow note whilst blocking the draw reed with my finger
(simluating the action of a valve over the draw slot), I could bent the note
down as far as and E (althought the pitch started to become a little
unstable by this point in the bend, requiring a lot of work to control it)
and the tone was a lot stronger. (Another comment on the tonal properties of
materials debate - I have always found that on a standard Richter tuned harp
without any valves, the notes produced by 5 draw and 7 blow are the most
strident in pitch, regardless of what the harp is made from; again, this
suggests to me that there are far more significant factors in harp
construction, than simply what the harp is made of.)

So, Boobie was right - she could bend the G down to an F# - and Winslow was
right - you can only bend the higher note down to a pitch just above the
lower note in the same channel (unless you use valves).

Bobbie - if you'd like to repeat the experiment, taking note of the presise
pitches of each reed and the depth of the bend measurd in cents, I would be
very interested to hear whether you confirm or contradict these results.

-- Pat.