[Harp-L] Octaves on the Chromatic harp

[Doug Schroer <dougharps@xxxxxxxxx>]

In my experience, you do have to get the chromatic harp deep in your mouth
to hit the octaves.  Once you get it, the space you block stays the same,
unlike on diatonic.  It was listening to WC that made me want to learn
octaves.

I have found that if I have the octave and increase the pressure on the
reeds, I can get the beats.  I think that it is due to the two reeds being
different sizes, and the slots being different sizes, so the pressure has a
different effect on each note, and you get the pitches to change differently
and get the beating.  If you do this a lot, you could cause a reed to go
flat and reduce reed life.
A detuned octave will also beat.

Doug S.