Chromatic harmonica Chromatic harmonica The chromatic harmonica is a type of harmonica that uses a button-activated sliding bar to redirect air from the hole in the mouthpiece to the selected reed-plate desired. When the button is not pressed, an altered diatonic major scale of the key of the harmonica is available, while depressing the button accesses the same scale a semitone higher in each hole. Thus, the instrument is capable of playing the 12 notes of the Western chromatic scale. The chromatic harmonica can thus be contrasted with a standard harmonica, which can play only the notes in a given musical key.
Istrian scale Istrian scale "Istrian scale" refers both to a "unique" musical scale and to the Istrian and Kvarnerian folk music genres which use the scale. It is named for the Istrian peninsula. Genres include "kanat" and "tarankanje"; techniques include nasal tone, variation and improvisation, and resolution to the unison or octave; and instruments include "sopele" shawms, bagpipes, flutes, and "tambura" lutes. It was first named by Ivan Matetić Ronjgov early in the twentieth century, assisting his study and notation of Croatian music. Non-equal-tempered, the scale could approximately be notated as: E-F-G-A-B-C [hexatonic] (see: enharmonic), the first six notes of an octatonic