Harmonics are something that you learn about in physics class. They’re also practical in the music world. The more, better in tune, and stronger harmonics your tone has, the better it sounds.
What are Harmonics?
Harmonics are the overtones that your ear percieves, but can’t hear.
If you cut a string in half, it’s an octave higher. If you cut it in half again, it sounds a Perfect 5th higher. Here’s a list of the harmonic progressions below.
- Octave
- Perfect 5th
- Perfect 4th
- Major 3rd
- Minor 3rd
- Major 2nd
- Minor 2nd
The math and science behind this is here.
How Do Harmonics Affect Me as a Musician?
The stronger, better in-tune, and more various the harmonics, the better the sound.
Pianists
Pianists may have checked out by now, thinking harmonics don’t affect us. They do.
You know how sometimes you have to hold down a note long past it has finished making a sound? The composer is using resonance by having you play other notes from the harmonic series, which activates that string.
You can use the harmonic series to double-check and make sure that a piano is in tune. Hold down the keys for each note in the harmonic series. Play the bottom note. If you can hear the higher sounds, the piano is decently in tune. This only works on an acoustic piano.
These two things happen because of the laws of physics involving resonance. I talk a lot about resonance here.
Flutists
We use harmonics as part of our tone studies. The way we do that is by changing the air direction, pointing it higher with our lips. This causes a higher tone to come out – a harmonic. We can practice tuning the harmonics because when they’re in tune our sound is better, we can practice strengthening them, and we can practice adding them.
Here are some nice, easy, free studies to practice them. These ones are really good for helping you to tune your harmonics.
The first page of this book has harmonic studies that are a little bit harder. They’re more about aiming your air and helping you get a good sound and a large amount of harmonics on each note. The more harmonics you have on each note, the better your sound overall.
Bonus: Being able to play high harmonics also helps you hit the high notes with better sound and intonation.
Sometimes it’s fun to make up a harmonic exercise, too.
Extended Techniques
Every once in awhile, a piece will ask you to play a harmonic. It looks like a diamond over the top of two notes, like this.
This technique is done for effect. The sound from a harmonic has less overtones and undertones, so the sound is a little bit different. I usually see it in pieces from the Romantic era.
Conclusion
You can use harmonics as a parlor trick, but they have a real usefulness about them. They’re especially useful in a winds, but they’re good to know about with every instrument.