OvertoneHarp / ObertonHarfe

Comment by Dan Zimmermann on August 11, 2011 at 2:03pm

Technically not a monochord then, since it has more than one key? Overtone Harp is a good word.
And how does the placement and size of sound holes figure in, does it matter in this case?
How come there are copper and steel strings? Isn't copper too soft to be used as strings or is it a certain alloy? So many questions, lol.

Comment by Bernhard Mikuskovics on August 11, 2011 at 6:30pm

Well, actually monochord isn´t a correct term for this instrument, as it is a polychord (with more than one string). Unfortunately wrong terms are common to many people when they are often used and then they become global terms even if they are not correct. A similar example is undertone singing. There are no undertones, only overtones sung on a lower octave, so in my understanding it should be called "deep tone singing". But anyways - the monochord dates back to ancient times, when Pythagoras made proportions of intervalls within the overtone scale visible and hearable on an instrument with only one string.
The placement and the size of the holes of course together with different materials of strings - that have different timbres - create the distinct sound of the instrument...

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