non harmonic overtones

Here's something that I was just musing over...hope I can phrase this
right. Is there any sort of order, or regularity, to the overtones of
percussive instruments, analagous to the order in the harmonic series?
Are they totally random? Is there any sort of mathematical system here?
When I saw Zakir Hussain, he played melodies on his tabla...when a tabla
player tunes to the drone of a raga, does this affect the harmonics at
all? Appreciate any info...Hstick

Neil,

Here's some good links on the topic:

http://www.tabla.com/tablaph2.html

http://www.tabla.com/articles/part1b.html

http://chandrakantha.com/tablasite/articles/tuning.htm

I've read that the little iron filing pad on the drum is used to
allign the harmonics to the linear harmonic series.

Jacky Ligon

--- In tuning@egroups.com, Neil Haverstick <STICK@U...> wrote:
> Here's something that I was just musing over...hope I can phrase
this
> right. Is there any sort of order, or regularity, to the overtones
of
> percussive instruments, analagous to the order in the harmonic
series?
> Are they totally random? Is there any sort of mathematical system
here?
> When I saw Zakir Hussain, he played melodies on his tabla...when a
tabla
> player tunes to the drone of a raga, does this affect the harmonics
at
> all? Appreciate any info...Hstick

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Neil wrote,

> Here's something that I was just musing over...hope I can phrase this
>right. Is there any sort of order, or regularity, to the overtones of
>percussive instruments, analagous to the order in the harmonic series?
>Are they totally random? Is there any sort of mathematical system here?

Each mechanism has its own order . . . there's a series for a circular
drumhead, a series for a metal bar fixed at one end, or both ends, or no
ends . . . your friend John Starrett can probably calculate all these things
. . .

>When I saw Zakir Hussain, he played melodies on his tabla...when a tabla
>player tunes to the drone of a raga, does this affect the harmonics at
>all? Appreciate any info...Hstick

The tabla is a special case . . . it has many different thicknesses,
thickest in the center and gradually reducing out from there . . . that's
what that dark spot in the center is for. The purpose of this is to change
the overtones from those of a circular drumhead to a harmonic series, at
least the first 8 harmonics. The harmonicity of the tabla is the reason it
has such a well-defined "pitch" -- very unlike any other kind of drumhead.