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I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with natural harmonics in a melody. The opening and ending of Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op

by mrob 8y ago

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with natural harmonics in a melody. The opening and ending of Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Op. 31 uses them, and it sound good to me. Because it's notated as equal temperament, the score is ambiguous, and there are two ways of playing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxVnSkX4Fco https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxVnSkX4Fco (13th harmonic high note version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkLyK-oSQ7A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkLyK-oSQ7A (14th harmonic high note version) I suspect that brass players are unusually sensitive to deviations from equal temperament because they have to work so hard to overcome them if they want to play with other instruments (including other brass instruments of different sizes).

yesenadam 8y ago
>I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with natural harmonics in a melody. Not sure what you mean by 'natural harmonics', i.e. which ones you mean. I was just talking about how the Ab harmonic (on trombone/trumpet) sounds very flat. It's avoided because it sounds out of tune. I'm not sure what something being 'inherently wrong' would even mean. In music, if it sounds good, it is good. >I suspect that brass players are unusually sensitive to deviations from equal temperament because they have to work so hard to overcome them if they want to play with other instruments I don't know what you're referring to there - I've never had or even heard of that problem. And I hadn't noticed or heard, and don't believe, that 'brass players are unusually sensitive to deviations from equal temperament'.
- mrob 8y ago
  By "natural harmonics" I mean notes at the resonant frequencies of the instrument. Several of them are obviously different from equal temperament, which means they will sound bad when played with other instruments. When brass players talk about "good intonation", they often mean adjusting these notes into equal temperament with valves/slides/embouchure/hand stopping. Because brass players actually have to pay attention to the tuning, I wouldn't be surprised if they were more sensitive to it than people who played fixed pitch instruments like piano. The Britten piece is notable for the parts where the horn player is instructed not to adjust the pitches to equal temperament, and because it's a solo it still sounds good.

by mrob 8y ago

yesenadam 8y ago

>I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with natural harmonics in a melody. Not sure what you mean by 'natural harmonics', i.e. which ones you mean. I was just talking about how the Ab harmonic (on trombone/trumpet) sounds very flat. It's avoided because it sounds out of tune. I'm not sure what something being 'inherently wrong' would even mean. In music, if it sounds good, it is good. >I suspect that brass players are unusually sensitive to deviations from equal temperament because they have to work so hard to overcome them if they want to play with other instruments I don't know what you're referring to there - I've never had or even heard of that problem. And I hadn't noticed or heard, and don't believe, that 'brass players are unusually sensitive to deviations from equal temperament'.

mrob 8y ago
By "natural harmonics" I mean notes at the resonant frequencies of the instrument. Several of them are obviously different from equal temperament, which means they will sound bad when played with other instruments. When brass players talk about "good intonation", they often mean adjusting these notes into equal temperament with valves/slides/embouchure/hand stopping. Because brass players actually have to pay attention to the tuning, I wouldn't be surprised if they were more sensitive to it than people who played fixed pitch instruments like piano. The Britten piece is notable for the parts where the horn player is instructed not to adjust the pitches to equal temperament, and because it's a solo it still sounds good.