Incorrect Harmonica Range

• Jan 10, 2020 - 21:02
Reported version
3.3
Type
Functional
Frequency
Once
Severity
S4 - Minor
Reproducibility
Always
Status
closed
Regression
No
Workaround
Yes
Project
MuseScore

The range for "Harmonica" is incorrect with a caveat.

The upper range of ALL chromatic harmonicas in C is D7.

The lower range of 3 octave (12 hole) chromatic harmonicas in C is C4

The lower range of 4 octave (16 hole) chromatic harmonicas is C3

There is also a 3.5 octave (14 hole) harmonics with a lower range of G3

I don't know if this justifies the creation of three separate instruments, I'll leave that up to you.

Comments

• Jan 11, 2020 - 17:16
Status active ⇒ needs info

Those harmonicas all exist already, no need for and new entries.

The 10 hole C diatonic harmonica may need its upper range fixed from C7 to D7, lower range is set to C4, I guess than needs fixing, probably to G4?

The 12 hole C chromatic harmonica needs its upper ranged fixed from C7 to D7, lower range is set correctly to C4 already.
The 14 hole C chromatic harmonica needs its upper ranged fixed from C7 to D7, lower range is set correctly to G3 already.
The 16 hole C chromatic harmonica needs its upper ranged fixed from C7 to D7, lower range is set correctly to C3 already.

The generic Harmonica entry is set to C4-C7 for amateur and professional, maybe set that to the 12 hole settings for amateur (C4-D7) and to the 16 hole settings for professional (C3-D7)? Or would it need to cover the range of all harmonicas MuseScore offers?

Reply

• Jan 11, 2020 - 20:16

I apologize for not realizing there was other instruments to choose from. Thanks for the enlightenment!!

As far as changes needed:

The 12 hole, 14 hole & 16 hole Key of C chromatic harmonica need to have the upper range changed to D7.

The 12 hole Tenor C Chromatic harmonica needs to have the upper range changed to D6.

The 12 hole G chromatic harmonica needs to have the upper register changed to A6.

There are three bass harmonicas listed. That list should be revised to have the following:

The Hohner 2 octave bass which has a range from E2 to E4.

The Hohner 2.5 octave bass which has a range from E2 to C4.

The Huang Bass which has a range from E2 to F4.

Thanks again, I'll fix my template to reflect my new found knowledge!

Reply

• Jan 12, 2020 - 02:02

The range of a 10 hole C diatonic harmonica is C4 to C7.

As a point of reference, diatonic harmonicas with the exception of harmonicas designated as "High" or "Low" center on the 3rd or 4th octave as the lowest note so for example, a normal C diatonic harmonica starts at C4, while a G, A, Ab, B or Bb begin below C4 so their lowest notes are A3 to Bb3.

A "High" G, A or Ab diatonic harmonica begins on A4, G4 or Ab4. In most cases HIGH versions of diatonic harmonicas are only available in G, Ab & A

Conversely, diatonic harmonicas in the key of C through F# have C4 - F#4 as their lowest note UNLESS they are designated as LOW versions, in which case they would have C3 - F#3 as their lowest note. In most cases LOW diatonic harmonicas are only available in D, E, F & F#.

In all cases the upper range is the tonic of the key the harmonica is tuned in, 3 octaves above the lowest note or octaves 3 - 6 or 4 - 7.

The generic harmonic is open to interpretation. In today world it would most likely be a 10 hole diatonic harmonica however, being "diatonic" opens up an entirely different can of worms.

In my opinion it should be a 12 hole chromatic (C4 - C7) as that is the harmonica most familiar to harmonica players and the only chromatic harmonica available in keys other than C.

Reply

• Jan 12, 2020 - 11:06
Status active ⇒ needs info

Sure about The Hohner 2.5 octave bass which has a range from E2 to C4. ?
That's only be 1.5 octave as far as I can tell? Isn't that rather C5? Or is it E1 for (any of) those 3 bass harmonicas?

I'm having a PR almost ready...

Reply

• Jan 12, 2020 - 11:32

BTW: the sound for (all) harmonicas stops at C7 already, so there is an issue with the soundfont too I guess, needs to go up to at least G7 as far as I can tell. It goes down much further though, as far as I can tell (it gets very faint down there, probably bad quality of my seakers/sound system) all way down to C-1, the lowest possible note

Reply

• Jan 12, 2020 - 13:10
Status needs info ⇒ PR created

OK, that's what I thought. see https://github.com/musescore/MuseScore/pull/5601

Changes:

  • The 12 hole, 14 hole & 16 hole Key of C chromatic harmonica need to have the upper range changed to D7.
  • The 12 hole Tenor C Chromatic harmonica needs to have the upper range changed to D6.
  • The 12 hole G chromatic harmonica needs to have the upper register changed to A6.
  • The Hohner 2 octave bass which has a range from E2 to E4.
  • The Hohner 2.5 octave bass which has a range from E2 to C5.
  • The Huang Bass which has a range from E2 to F4.

Anything else needed?

Reply

• Jan 12, 2020 - 14:29
Status PR created ⇒ needs info

No, nothing else needed that I am aware of.

Thank you so much for addressing this minor issue!

Reply

• Jan 24, 2020 - 11:00

>What harmonica has a range to C8?

If the notes will not sound very strangely, it is normal for the instruments to have a coverage range of #21(A0) and #108(C8). (If its possible) It would be good to hear every note in the coverage area of the Pianoforte instrument.

The coverage area on the keyboard (or soundfont) and the usable area of the instrument are not the same.
It is the responsibility of the composer or arranger to keep notes in the usable space.

Reply

Fix version
3.5.0