HarmonicsOverview

Harmonicshavebeenapartoftraditionalcellotechniqueformorethan200years,withsomeoftheearlieststringtreatisesdedicatingattentiontothem.Since
thelastquarterofthe20thcentury,however,theuseofharmonicshasexpandedenormously,somuchsothatentirecompositionsarewrittenwithharmonicsas
thecentralorganizingprinciple.Theyprovidecomposerswithamultitudeofpossibilitiesintimbreandtexture.
Howdoharmonicswork?
Harmonicsoccurwhenastringistouchedlightlyinapreciselocation(calledanode),suchthatastandingwaveisinduced.Thenodesarelocatedatwhole
numberfractionsofthestringlength:

Dividingthestringinthiswayhasamultiplyingeffectonthefrequency,andyieldsthefollowingpitches,knownastheharmonicseries:

HarmonicSeriesoftheCstring

Thisshowsthefirsttwelveharmonics,includingthefundamentalpitch.Theoreticallytheseriescontinuesadinfinitum,butinpracticewearerarelyaskedtoplay
beyondthe8thharmonic.Heresavideoshowingthefirst8:

C String Harmonic Series

0:26 / 0:26

Itisimportanttoknowthepatternofpitchesintheharmonicseries,atleastthroughthe8thharmonic,becausewiththatknowledgeyoucanplayanypitchusing
eitheropenorstoppedharmonics,asyouwilllearninthelessonsthatfollow.Thistableshowsthatpattern:

Asthefirstdiagramaboveshows,andasthistablereinforces,youcanactivatetheseharmonicsbytouchingthenodesateitherendofthestring.Thatis,you
caneitherfindthemwheretheywouldbeifyoufullystoppedthem(upinthumbposition)ORatthesymmetricalplaceonthestring,movingcloserandcloserto
thenut.Theoddnumberednodes,particularlythe5thharmonic,canbefoundmultipleplacesonthestring.Inperformanceyouwillsometimesmakethese
choicesyourself,andinothercasescomposerswillspecificallyindicatethedesirednodeinthenotation.
OpenandStoppedHarmonics:Notation
First,afewwordsaboutterminology.Youareprobablyaccustomedtothetermsnaturalandartificialtodescribethetwogeneralvarietiesofharmonics.
Thesetermsaresomewhatinadequateandmisleadingthereisnothingartificialaboutanartificialharmonic.Asyouwillsee,thesetwoseeminglydifferent
typesofharmonicsareonlydifferentinpractice,butidenticalintheory.IntheirwonderfultextTheContemporaryViolin:ExtendedPerformanceTechniques,
authorsPatriciaandAllenStrangesuggestthewordsopenandstoppedassubstitutesfornaturalandartificial,respectively.
Notationofharmonicsisnotcompletelystandardized,butcertainnormshavearisenovertime.Clickthesectionheadingsbelowtoseeexamplesofnaturaland
artificialharmonicsnotation.

HideOpenHarmonics
Noteswhosesoundingpitchisthesameasthestoppedpitchusuallyhaveasmallcircleoverthenotehead.Thisnotationhasbeenusedformanyyears.

Diamondnoteheadsareusedtoshownodeswherethesoundingpitchisdifferentthanthestoppedpitchwouldbe.Thediamondshapeindicatesalighttouchat
thespecifiedlocation.UsuallythestringisdenotedbyaRomannumeralorwithtextasshownhere:

Sometimesthediamondnoteheadsarefilledintodifferentiatebetweenhalfnotesandquarternotes.Thisnotationseemstobegainingpopularityandis
especiallyhelpfulwhenthesoundingpitches(andrhythms)arenotgiven.

Hereareharmonics2,3,4,5,&6onallfouropenstrings,notatedatbothsetsofnodes:

HideStoppedHarmonics
Stoppedharmonicsoperatesimilarlytoopenharmonics,exceptthatnowweuseonefinger(usuallythethumb)tostopthestring,creatingashorterstringlength
andresultinginanewharmonicseries.Anotherfingeractivatesaharmonicnode.Thestoppingofthestringlimitstheavailablenodestothosethatcanbe
reachedbythe3rdand4thfingers.
Themostcommonoftheseisatouchfourthharmonic,forwhichwestopthestringwiththethumbandtouchthestringaperfect4thabove.Thisyieldsapitch
twooctavesabovethestoppednote,asthetableaboveindicates.Touchfifthandtouchthirdharmonicsareincreasinglycommoninmodernscores.
Composersgenerallynotatestoppedharmonicswithanormalnoteheadforthestoppedpitchandadiamondnoteheadonthenodetobetouched.Itisnot
uncommonforthesoundingpitchalsotobenotatedforthesakeofclarity.Performershavedifferingopinionsaboutthispractice,assomeseetheadditional
clutteronthepageasacounterweighttothebenefits.
Thisexampleshowstouchfourthharmonicswithandwithoutthesoundingpitchnotated:

Touchingothernodes(the5th,themajor3rd,theminor3rd)willyieldtheotherpitchesintheharmonicseries,asdescribedinthetableabove.


Checkoutthefollowingsectionsforspecificpracticestrategies:
OpenHarmonics|StoppedHarmonics|Trills|Glissandi|Pizzicato