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MMD > Archives > September 1997 > 1997.09.10 > 02Prev  Next


Glass Harmonica
By Mike Knudsen

Actually, the notes on the back of my Bruno Hoffman album (remember
when you could just turn the album over and read a whole page of notes?)
warned that many people found the musical glass tone nervously irritating
after long exposure (like fingernails on a blackboard, or a mis-tuned
radio).  Consequently the compositions by Mozart and others were
kept short, with frequent alternations between the glasses and the
conventional instruments.  I don't necessarily agree with this, but
then some folks can't stand a viola da gamba or a Baroque organ for
long either.

Often a flute is substituted for the harmonica in performing these
pieces, but as someone else noted, the glasses have a much more complex
and "fuzzy" tone.  And it's probably not a coincidence that the modern
mouth-organ harmonica's free reeds are fairly close in tone to the
glasses.

Finally, while anyone should know that A-sharp is B-flat (A# == Bb),
I usually prefer to say Bb rather than A#, since in most keys it really
is Bb.  This should be kept in mind when notating barrel organ scales
whose natural key is Bb or Eb (not A# or D#).

Mike Knudsen

 [ Or, as Ingmar Krause discussed, forget about the key in which the
 [ organ sounds, and notate the scale in C-major!  -- Robbie


(Message sent Wed 10 Sep 1997, 22:43:06 GMT, from time zone GMT-0500.)

Key Words in Subject:  Glass, Harmonica

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