# Violin harmonics...



## goodgrief! (May 8, 2022)

I have 4 notes that should be played as Harmonics. Attached are the intended pitches i.e. how the're supposed to sound to our ear.
I have 2 questions: 1. How should these be notated? [is there a difference between a natural harmonic and an artificial one?]
2. I tried notating them correctly in Dorico, but I don't really understand what I'm seeing. Is there a way to notate in Dorico so I can see the intended pitch and not just where the violinist should place her fingers? I'm kind of groping in the dark here...
I tried reading up on this [https://www.violinonline.com/additionalskills.html#:~:text=Natural harmonics are indicated in,examples on the D string ] but just got really confused, and Dorico seems to have a mind of it's own...
Many many thanks!


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## bryla (May 8, 2022)

ptram said:


> Theses ones should work (one note per bar, different variants; choose the ones easier to tie with the nearby ones).


Those really don't make sense since only one of them is on an open string and many of the others are too large for a grip (more than a tritone).

goodgrief: notate the normal notes 2 octaves below the sounding pitches and add a diamond notehead a perfect 4th above those notes. This is the correct way to notate artificial harmonics and unfortunately it doesn't show the actual sounding pitch but rather works like glockenspiel notation.

Natural harmonics are played on open strings and are there limited to the harmonics series of each of the four strings. Those harmonics are written at pitch though with a normal notehead with a circle above.


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## Duncan Krummel (May 8, 2022)

bryla said:


> Natural harmonics are played on open strings and are there limited to the harmonics series of each of the four strings. Those harmonics are written at pitch though with a normal notehead with a circle above.


For the sake of completeness, they can also be written simply as a diamond notehead at the node, and it’s understood that the nearest string below it (unless directed otherwise) is the string on which it is played. That doesn’t help much in this example, but it’s important to know.


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## ptram (May 8, 2022)

bryla said:


> Those really don't make sense


You are perfectly right. No idea why I just didn't suggest the fourth harmonic instead of that meaningless thing.

Paolo


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## goodgrief! (May 8, 2022)

Thank you all for your input. 
1. But does anybody know how this works in Dorico??? I started out with @bryla's directions, writing in the intended pitch with a regular notehead 2 octaves below, but when I use Dorico's harmonic-writing function, it automatically gives me a diamond notehead an octave above what I wrote, which isn't correct. So my sister [a violinist] told me to write it this way [attached]. Is this OK? It OK for her but I really want to get it right for other players as well. 
2. Isn't the high E a natural harmonic, 2 octaves above the open E string?
Please bear in mind that I'm a pianist, not a violinist...
Many thanks!


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## Living Fossil (May 8, 2022)

goodgrief! said:


> Thank you all for your input.
> 1. But does anybody know how this works in Dorico??? I started out with @bryla's directions, writing in the intended pitch with a regular notehead 2 octaves below, but when I use Dorico's harmonic-writing function, it automatically gives me a diamond notehead an octave above what I wrote, which isn't correct. So my sister [a violinist] told me to write it this way [attached]. Is this OK? It OK for her but I really want to get it right for other players as well.
> 2. Isn't the high E a natural harmonic, 2 octaves above the open E string?
> Please bear in mind that I'm a pianist, not a violinist...
> Many thanks!


Your examples are wrong.

If you would touch the string an octave higher (if you had giant hands), the sounding note would be equal to the touched note.


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## Rob (May 8, 2022)

goodgrief! said:


> Thank you all for your input.
> 1. But does anybody know how this works in Dorico??? I started out with @bryla's directions, writing in the intended pitch with a regular notehead 2 octaves below, but when I use Dorico's harmonic-writing function, it automatically gives me a diamond notehead an octave above what I wrote, which isn't correct. So my sister [a violinist] told me to write it this way [attached]. Is this OK? It OK for her but I really want to get it right for other players as well.
> 2. Isn't the high E a natural harmonic, 2 octaves above the open E string?
> Please bear in mind that I'm a pianist, not a violinist...
> Many thanks!


Select the first note, then look at the ribbon under the main screen, there's a tab called Harmonics, you need to set Type to Artificial and Partial to 4, done...


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## goodgrief! (May 8, 2022)

Aha! Thank you very much! Now it looks right.


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## Rob (May 8, 2022)

that's it


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## R.G. (May 14, 2022)

@goodgrief! 

By the time you end up seeing this your session might have passed, but in case not, when writing harmonics also consider how you want them performed with respect to how connected or disconnected you want two successive harmonics to be, and if you _do_ want them connected, whether you prefer portamento or non portamento.

The touch-4's are easiest and will sound perfect in your example if you want a slide between the notes. But if you want them _non_ portamento, when it's a whole section often the easiest solution is to use standard divisi and dovetail between the outer and inner players. But you obviously can't do that with one player in which case you have a couple options:

One option is to use a touch-min3 for the B6 harmonic and a touch-maj3 for the G#6 harmonic. The stopped note of E4 (probably on II) would be the same for both notes, and the touched node would move adjacently from pure G4 to pure G#4. It can be a bit tricky since pure intervals are necessary for the harmonic to sound, in which case the two nodes are just 70 cents apart instead of 100, but a professional violinist can do this. If the violinist were to have trouble coaxing it adequately out of the D string, the G string instead could be tried instead.

Another option is to use a double-stop harmonic where the two notes are bowed in turn on adjacent strings. Finger 1 double-stops a fifth (E4 on III & B4 on II) while finger 3 touches the pure G# node on III (touch-maj3) and finger 4 touches E5 on II (touch-4). The fingers never move throughout both notes, the bow simply crosses over from II to III.

Both of the above solutions can be played under one bow with no portamento.

Similar solutions can be translated to your second set of harmonics.


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