‘bright’ tone color

[deb-l]

I understand bright to mean clean and crisp with less dwell.

[deb-l]

maybe bright has nothing to do with resonance or dwell?

[jessica-wolff]

Resonance and dwell (I assume you mean sustain) are not the same thing.

[deb-l]

any idea where there’s a blog or a thread that explains the terminology for harp tone color?

[kreig-kitts]

I think of bright as having a lot of “aaaaah” and “eeeeeee” sound in the tone, and darker as having more of the “ooooh” and “oooooo.” That’s the best I can do.

[deb-l]

that’s a great way to describe it!

[deb-l]

Jessica, I’d be interested in the deffinition of each.

[bernhard-schmidt]

Hallo,

a very good question…

[jessica-wolff]

Yes, dwell is sustain, but I can’t think of an actual definition for resonance off the top of my head. I remember someone saying that square-backed harps tend to have more projection (that’s basically how they reach your audience) and roundbacks have more resonance. Bernhard’s explanation was more technical than what I was looking for, but as he said, you know it when you hear it. I think I’d better hit the dictionary.

[deb-l]

Bernard, I was under the assumption that the tonal colors were poetic metaphors for interpretations of sound, I had no idea there was a scientific basis related to frequency.

[Karen Johns]

Dwell would be the same as sustain, as I understand it- how long the sound of the note plucked is heard. Resonance covers a broader area, which includes yourself and other areas the sound affects. For instance, when I pluck a certain string on one of my harp, strings on my other harps resonate sympathetically. Also, I can feel the harp resonate within myself when I play. I’m sure a harp therapist could explain this better than I can, such as how higher notes resonate differently than lower notes in regards to the body, etc.

Karen

[deb-l]

thank you Karen that was a very clear explanation.

[unknown-user]

There are two different aspects to resonance though – the room and the harp itself. This is why two harps might sound different, even if in the same room. If you think about it, the same harp might sound different in two different rooms: this is because of the resonance of the room – the bouncing soundwaves are altered, and this alteration is known as resonance. (think concert hall v. living room) The harp sound box has its own resonance as well. Basically a harp’s “personal” resonance is how it takes the sound of the vibrating string (which should be the same on any harp because a vibrating string is a vibrating string) and changes it. Part of how it changes the sound is that it amplifies it. Slight alterations in the shape and size of the soundbox could drastically change a harp’s sound!

~Sam

[jessica-wolff]

If I play harp (or guitar or banjo) in a room floored with Mexican tile, the resonance is increased enormously from playing the same instrument in a carpeted room. The same would probably be true of a wooden floor as opposed to carpeting.

Projection is how well the sound reaches your audience–did I put that right?–and you can judge it best by having someone else listen to you at some distance away.

[penny-amundsen]

I find the terms “bright” and “warm” confusing/ambiguous.

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