December 1998: Playing Harmonics- Unit 2

Last month we looked into the two ways of executing harmonics:

• a) cutting the string with the heel of the hand
• b) cutting it with the bony section at the base of the thumb

We found that by cutting the string in half and plucking the upper portion we produced a note whose pitch was one octave higher than the tuned pitch of the string.

OTHER HARMONICS

According to the laws of physics:

If you divide a string in:	Each half will vibrate at:
Halves	One octave above tuned pitch
Thirds	One octave + a perfect fifth above tuned pitch
Quarters	Two octaves above tuned pitch
Fifths	Two octaves + a major third above tuned pitch.

This process can go on ad infinitum but this is about as far as one can hope to execute on a harp string and even then it would be utterly impractical to actually use more than the first two divisions at most. Carlos Salzedo wrote a piece called "Poem of the Little Stars". Though the work is lovely it is terribly awkward and just plain painful (in the hand) to play and thus is almost never performed. It may even be out of print.

MULTIPLE HARMONICS

It is possible to execute two harmonic sounds at one time but only by using the first technique of execution described above. Lay the heel of your hand across a set of neighboring strings.. Using the thumb for the higher string and the second finger (which will be pointed upward) for the lower one, pluck both strings at the same time and immediately lift away. For the average hand one can usually produce harmonics a second or third apart.

HARMONICS PLUS NATURAL SOUNDS

Again by using the first technique of execution you can play a harmonic with your thumb and simultaneously play a note a fourth, fifth or more below it using your 3rd or 4th finger pointed upward to whatever degree necessitated by the angle of the hand as it cuts the string for the
harmonic. This is found fairly often in the literature.

See you next month.

Stephanie

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