Dictionary of Music - Birding America

harmonica 173symphonies, the opera Merry Mount, symphonicpoems, choral and chamber works, keyboardmusic, and numerous songs.Harbison (här′bi sən), John, 1938– . An Americancomposer who produced works in a wide varietyof genres—symphonies, ballets, chamber music,choral and solo vocal works, and operas. He alsotaught at Massachusetts Institute of Technologyfrom 1969 on, served as composer-in-residence withseveral symphony orchestras and music festivals,and conducted and lectured internationally. Harbisonstudied under a number of eminent composers,among them Walter Piston, Boris Blacher, andRoger Sessions. His musical style is largely tonaland frequently draws on older techniques such asimitation, canon, and fugue, combined with freerharmonies and contemporary popular music. Outstandingamong his works are the cantata The Flightinto Egypt (1986), which won the Pulitzer Prize andfeatures four contrasting instrumental consorts, adouble-reed quartet, a brass trio, strings, and achamber organ; his third opera, The Great Gatsby(1999), based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel andincluding a foxtrot in 1920s style and references to atelephone and car horn; Concerto for double brasschoir and orchestra (1988); String Quartet no. 4(2001), which is rife with canons and counterpoint;and Requiem Mass (2003).hardanger (här′däng ər) fiddle A Norwegianfolk instrument that resembles a violin in shape buthas, under its four strings, four or five sympatheticstrings. When the four melody strings are bowed, thesympathetic strings vibrate along with them, producinga droning sort of sound. The instrument isused principally to accompany folk dances, such asthe HALLING. The violin virtuoso Ole Bull(1810–1880) often played solos on the hardangerand also composed music for it.hardingfele (hôr′ ring fā′′ lə). The Norwegianterm for HARDANGER FIDDLE.hard rockHarfe (här′fə).See under ROCK.The German word for HARP.harmonic 1 Pertaining to harmony. 2 Anotherword for overtone (see under HARMONIC SERIES;SOUND). 3 Also, flageolet tone. In stringed instrumentssuch as violins and harps, a soft, clear, highpitchedtone that results from lightly touching astring at a particular point instead of pressing itdown hard. Unlike the overtones present in mostmusical sounds, which blend together and are notheard as individual notes, a harmonic produced inthis way is the only pitch sounded, hence its veryclear tone quality. The pitch produced depends onwhere the string is touched. Lightly touching astring at its center causes it to vibrate in two parts(along half its length); touching a string at one-thirdof its length causes it to vibrate in three parts (alongone-third its length); etc. Thus, the string touched atits center produces the note an octave above its normalpitch (the first overtone in the HARMONICSERIES); the string touched at one-third of its lengthproduces the note an octave and a fifth above its normalpitch (the second overtone in the harmonicseries); etc. Harmonics thus extend the normal rangeof stringed instruments upward. Harmonics are indicatedin scores either by a small circle or diamondsign over the note to be produced, or by a diamondshapednote marking the point to be touched. Theycan be played on either an open string (natural harmonics)or a stopped string (artificial harmonics).Both kinds are used in the violin group (violin,viola, cello, double bass). In harps the octave harmonic(obtained by touching a string at its midpoint)is generally the only one used. 4 In wind instruments,overtones produced by OVERBLOWING.harmonica (här môn′i kə). 1 Also, mouth organ.A small portable instrument consisting of a flatmetal box containing pairs of free reeds (flexiblemetal tongues that vibrate when a stream of air isforced past them). The player breathes into holes inone of the long sides of the box, which he or shemoves back and forth in front of the mouth. Eachhole conveys air to a pair of reeds, one of whichsounds when the player exhales and the other wheninhaling. The reeds of a pair are normally tuned toadjacent pitches, so that, for example, exhaling willproduce the note E and inhaling will produce thenote F. There may also be a slider stop that makes