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<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Mike Dunbar:
Harmony comes from the harmonic overtone series, not the other way around.

Melodies don't really imply harmonies, melodies and harmonies both imply the overtone series . . .

The overtone series is an aspect of the component of pitch.
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The harmonic overtone series is made up of a "fundamental" pitch, and regular multiples of the frequency of that pitch, 2x, 3x, etc. These multiples result from divisions of the vibrating instrument which are set in motion by the fundamental vibration. For example, while the entire length a guitar string is vibrating, it is also vibrating in segments, 1/2 it's length, 1/4, etc. These "overtones" are not very obvious, since they sound at a much lower volume thatn the fundamental. Having said all that, let's move on to causality, which is often turned on its head with regard to this subject.

From the top: "Harmony comes from the harmonic overtone series, not the other way around."

This reminds of the time an engineer told me that, "Music is based on mathematics."
It's a safe bet that folks were chanting and banging sticks a long time before they could calculate "cycles per second". Frets appeared on the ancient lute long before anyone could cypher the 12th root of 2.

Mathematical measurements of sonic vibrations can be helpful in understanding how and why certain notes are harmonious, and others not. That doesn't define the causality of the experience of harmony. In other words, the fact that a particular series of tones is included in a single "pitch" is not the "reason" two notes are harmonious, it is rather, a manifestation of that harmony.

Next: "Melodies don't really imply harmonies, melodies and harmonies both imply the overtone series ... "

I'm pretty sure that folks were singing harmony way before they could measure overtones. The implied harmony in a melody is a function of the mind, which retains an impression of the preceeding pitches and relates them, one to another. Once again, the subtle effect of the overtone series within a note is not the "reason" that we experience harmony. It is merely an echo, if you will, a physical expression of the harmonious nature of certain pitches. We experience naturally occurring resonances as harmonious, not because they are related in an overtone series, but rather for the same reason that they exist in that overtone series. The overtone series doesn't "cause" harmony, it reflects harmony.

"The overtone series is an aspect of the component of pitch."

The overtone series is not an aspect, it is a physical reality. Music is not a concept, it is an human experience.

Is that $.06?
Emmit Sycamore
sixstringsnsongs@yahoo.com