Sul tasto would obviously be a very different sound from harmonics.
The passage I have in mind (for string quartet) would not be nearly as
effective played sul tasto, but that's still IMO the least worst
alternative in this specific case, if the harmonics solution had
proved impractical.
"Touch-fourth" and "touch-fifth" etc. are very common terms, at least
in Boston and New York.
Cheers,
- Darcy
-----
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Brooklyn, NY
On 3 Apr 2008, at 7:33 PM, John Howell wrote:
At 6:32 PM -0400 4/3/08, Darcy James Argue wrote:
the question is whether to use harmonics or sul tasto, but I'd much
rather have them in harmonics if possible.
????????? Sul tasto is a bowing instruction to bow over the
fingerboard (fewer overtones, therefore a softer tone). I can't
imagine that as an either/or for harmonics!
And I'm curious about the terminology 5th-touch and 4th-touch. (Or
maybe it was touch-4th and touch-5th.) Not that I had any trouble
understanding what you meant, but I was hesitant in my previous post
because I have never, ever, seen or heard those terms used by any
string player or string teacher. I wonder whether they might have
originated in a single orchestration book or a similar source.
A string player would talk about an artificial harmonic of the 4th,
or of the 5th (or for that matter of the major 3rd, minor 3rd, or
major 2nd, all of which are quite possible but take a lot of
practice to master. They're fantastic for improving fine bow control.
John
--
John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music
Virginia Tech Department of Music
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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