Nonharmonic Overtones

Musical sounds are made up of (among other things) harmonic and non-harmonic overtones. As used typically, the Hammond Drawbars attempt to represent the natural HarmonicSeries, those overtones in a simple fraction-relationship to a played pitch. These harmonic overtones predominate in the world, and physical layout and labelling of the drawbars supports this as basic use. But the same drawbar system can also produce other overtones, where real-world bells and gongs, as well as human voices, would not be the same without them.

This technique involves shifting the keyboard playing range down by octaves, or shifting and transposing to other keys. Also, certain lowest drawbars must never be used lest the effect instantly be undone. These new overtones should be used sparingly, and are sensitive even to the major or minor mode of the music. Their effect is potentially more brassy or metallic than Drawbars used the traditional way, but some surprisingly beautiful flutelike sounds are possible, too, as the new pitches can imitate resources from the world's largest organs as well as the most cutting-edge synthesizers.

The drawbar numbers and colors below are the same as in normal use, but the virtual footages are changed, to which the player must adjust mentally. New resources available have no harmonic name; forbidden drawbars below fundamental are ticked with a dash.

Playing an octave lower~:

    <?plugin ?OldStyleTable
    |^ *No.*   |^ *Harmonic*|^ *Interval*  |^   *Footage* |^ *Color*
    |^ 1  | - | - | - |  Brown
    |^ 2  | - | - | - |  Brown
    |^ 3  | - | - | - |  White
    |^ 4  | Fundamental     |Unison|^ 8'      |  White
    |^ 5  |                 |Fifth|^ 5 1/3'   | Black
    |^ 6  | 2nd Harmonic    |Octave |^ 4'     |  White
    |^ 7  |                 |Tenth  |^ 3 1/5' |  Black
    |^ 8  | 3rd Harmonic    |Twelfth|^ 2 2/3' |  Black
    |^ 9  | 4th Harmonic    |Fifteenth|^ 2'   |  White
    ?>

Playing two octaves lower~:

    <?plugin ?OldStyleTable
    |^ *No.*   |^ *Harmonic*|^ *Interval*  |^   *Footage* |^ *Color*
    |^ 1  | - | - | - |  Brown
    |^ 2  | - | - | - |  Brown
    |^ 3  | - | - | - |  White
    |^ 4  | - | - | - |  White
    |^ 5  | - | - | - |  Black
    |^ 6  | Fundamental     |Unison|^ 8'     |  White
    |^ 7  |                 |Third |^ 6 2/5' |  Black
    |^ 8  |                 |Fifth |^ 5 1/3' |  Black
    |^ 9  | 2nd Harmonic    |Octave|^ 4'     |  White
    ?>

The following schemas additionally require transposing the key of the music, and sound best with both hands on the same manual, but the pedal (if used) is not to be transposed. For solo work, transpose or improvise the manual part where the new drawbar registration to be used so that it is played in a different key from the other manual part and bass. Players familiar with polytonality will have no trouble with this, though the result will not sound polytonal at all. Players using a chord-system will find the system easiest of all.

Also, in these transposing-schemas, the colors of the drawbars are effectively reversed. Some black drawbars sound the octaves (and probably will be pulled out further), and the white drawbars always sound non-octave pitches. The white drawbars, especially, must be used only in trace amounts. All the sounds available this way are very novel indeed, and combine well with the Percussion.

Playing a fifth lower (play this system in F when the music is otherwise in C)~:

    <?plugin ?OldStyleTable
    |^ *No.*   |^ *Harmonic*|^ *Interval*  |^   *Footage* |^ *Color*
    |^ 1  | - | - | - |  Brown
    |^ 2  | Fundamental     |Unison          |^ 8'       |  Brown
    |^ 3  | - | - | - |  White
    |^ 4  |                 |Fourth          |^ 5 9/11'  |  White
    |^ 5  | 2nd Harmonic    |Octave          |^ 4'       |  Black
    |^ 6  |                 |Eleventh        |^ 2 10/11' |  White
    |^ 7  |                 |Thirteenth      |^ 2 6/13'  |  Black
    |^ 8  | 4th Harmonic    |Fifteenth       |^ 2'       |  Black
    |^ 9  |                 |Flat Seventeenth|^ 1 13/19' |  White
    ?>

Playing a twelfth lower (play this system in F an octave lower when the music is otherwise in C)~:

    <?plugin ?OldStyleTable
    |^ *No.*   |^ *Harmonic*|^ *Interval*  |^   *Footage* |^ *Color*
    |^ 1  | - | - | - |  Brown
    |^ 2  | - | - | - |  Brown
    |^ 3  | - | - | - |  White
    |^ 4  | - | - | - |  White
    |^ 5  | Fundamental     |Unison    |^ 8'       |  Black
    |^ 6  |                 |Fourth    |^ 5 9/11'  |  White
    |^ 7  |                 |Sixth     |^ 4 12/13' |  Black
    |^ 8  | 2nd Harmonic    |Octave    |^ 4'       |  Black
    |^ 9  |                 |Flat Tenth|^ 3 7/19'  |  White
    ?>

Playing an octave-major tenth lower (play this system in A-flat two octaves lower when the music is otherwise in C)~:

    <?plugin ?OldStyleTable
    |^ *No.*   |^ *Harmonic*|^ *Interval*  |^   *Footage* |^ *Color*
    |^ 1  | - | - | - |  Brown
    |^ 2  | - | - | - |  Brown
    |^ 3  | - | - | - |  White
    |^ 4  | - | - | - |  White
    |^ 5  | - | - | - |  Black
    |^ 6  | - | - | - |  White
    |^ 7  | Fundamental     |Unison|^ 8'           |  Black
    |^ 8  |                 |Flat Third|^ 6 14/19' |  Black
    |^ 9  |                 |Flat Fifth|^ 5 13/23' |  White
    ?>

It is even possible to use this technique on both manuals at once, though care must be taken in range and key shifts.