In article w075g.18460$fG3.5768@dukeread09,
"ScottW" wrote:

The second overtone above the fundamental frequency is indeed an octave
plus a fifth.

ScottW:

and that is definitely not a harmonic.




Scott,

musicians have a different terminology
harmonics means something else to them than it does to engineers.
to them, its thirds, fifiths, sevenths
to engineers 'whole order" harmonics are whole number multiples of
frequencies.
engineers tend to abbreviate'whole order harmonics' into the term
'harmonics'
so, 'harmonics' are two different animals to the two different worlds

So you disagree with Jenn when she said,
"Except that you're wrong. This is EXACTLY how the terms are
used in music" clearly stating that musicians and engineers have the
same definition for the term harmonic even though she
subsequently insisted that harmonic and overtone are interchangeable.

Are all musicians this confused ? In any case the proper term for
non-interger multiples of the fundamental is inharmonic.

It goes like this:

http://www.music.sc.edu/fs/bain/atmi...dex-audio.html

"When musicians use the term overtone series, they are generally
referring to a set of frequency components that appear above a musical
tone. The related term harmonic series is a more precisely defined
concept with applications in both music and mathematics. Though
musicians sometimes use these terms interchangeably, the term harmonic
series specifically refers to a series of numbers related by
whole-number ratios."

Musicians get to juggle overtones, intervals, partials, harmonics,
frequencies, pitches, and "whole-number ratios." There's the practical
relationship of playing the instrument, brass overtones, string
harmonics, etc. (Can fretted instruments ever really be in tune?)

Be sure to read down to Pythagoras. These mathematical concepts
originated in music philosophy back to the Greeks and continuing through
Tartini (difference tones described by a violinist) and the ongoing
interest in tuning systems.

I am confused about the octave-and-a-fifth thing. Isn't it the third
partial and the second overtone, representing a frequency three times
the fundamental tone? If three is a whole number, how is that not a
harmonic?

Stephen