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[[File:HarmonicTableMusicNoteLayout.png|thumb|right|550px|Harmonic table note layout.]]

The '''Harmonic Table note-layout''', or tonal array,  is a key layout for musical instruments that offers interesting advantages over the traditional keyboard layout.

Its symmetrical, hexagonal pattern of interval sequences places the notes of the major and minor triads together. It is sometimes called the ''Melodic Table'' note-layout, and more rarely the ''Triad'' note-layout. It is related to the [[Wicki-Hayden note layout|Wicki-Hayden based keyboards]] and other [[isomorphic keyboard]]s, both of which can be utilized on the jammer keyboard musical interface.<ref>[http://www.musicscienceguy.com/2008/12/what-is-the-harmonic-table-how-the-c-thru-axis-works.html What is the "Harmonic Table": how the C-Thru Axis works], MusicScienceGuy.</ref>

== History ==

The structure and properties of the Harmonic Table have been well known since at least the 18th century. Indeed, as a [[pitch space]], the Harmonic Table is [[topologically]] equivalent to [[Euler]]'s [[Tonnetz]], discovered by the Swiss mathematician [[Leonhard Euler]] in 1739. The two pitch arrays are trivially obtained from each other by direct [[shear mapping]]. This note layout created by Euler is utilised in [[Neo-Riemannian theory]] to geometrically model its musical ideas.

The Harmonic Table keyboard layout was used in a keyboard harmonica called the [[Harmonetta]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.musanim.com/Harmonetta/|title = Harmonetta}}</ref> invented by [[Ernst Zacharias]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.museumstuff.com/learn/topics/Ernst_Zacharias|title = Ernst Zacharias : Define, Explore, Discuss}}</ref> and manufactured by [[Hohner]] from the early 1950s through the mid-1970s. A similar keyboard was developed by Larry Hanson <ref>http://www.anaphoria.com/hanson.PDF {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> in 1942 for use with a 53 tone scale but turns the fifth sideways and the major third to the right and up.
[[File:Harmonetta keyboard layout.svg|thumb|Keyboard note layout of the Harmonetta]]

The modern layout was proposed in 1983 by inventor Peter Davies, who obtained an international patent for its use in instruments in 1990. Davies coined the term ''Melodic Table'' to refer to the layout. It was afterwards renamed to ''Harmonic Table'' by the first major manufacturer, C-Thru Music and publicized by the company. This layout is used in the sonome family of keyboards, currently commercially manufactured as the Axis and Opal keyboards. Keyboards using this layout can also be emulated on [[tablet computer]]s like the iPad, such as in the app [http://shiverware.com/musix.html Musix].

==Special features of the Harmonic table==
There are a large number of [[isomorphic keyboard|isomorphic]] note-assignments possible; however, the Harmonic Table format is unusual in the musically important intervals it uses:
*Note-values ascend by the musical interval of a [[perfect fifth]] along the vertical axis.
*On one diagonal axis notes ascend by four semitones (a [[major third]] or [[diminished fourth]]).
*On the remaining diagonal axis notes ascend by three semitones (a [[minor third]] or [[augmented second]]).
*The notes of commonly played chords (except the octave) are clustered close together.<ref>[http://www.c-thru-music.com/cgi/?page=layout_cshapes Some Harmonic Table Chord Shapes], C-Thru Music.</ref>
*Any [[major triad]] and [[minor triad]], in root position, can be played with a single finger

Ergonomically, the harmonic table format is exceptionally compact: all notes of the major and minor scales fall under the fingers, and all common chords can be played with one or two fingers.

==Uses==
This key layout has attracted the attention of numerous professional musicians, including [[Brian May]] and [[Jordan Rudess]] who find that it gives them a novel view of music, which is reportedly very useful in composing. It also works well with novel tunings such as the [[Bohlen–Pierce scale]].

It is in use for ongoing research into microtonal scales by music researchers and composers, in particular [[Carlo Serafini]],<ref>[http://www.seraph.it/blog_files/category-alternate-controllers.html Carlo Serafini's blog]</ref> [[Elaine Walker (composer)|Elaine Walker]]<ref>[http://ziaspace.com/_microtonality/BP/ Elaine Walker's Bohlen Pierce page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611054118/http://www.ziaspace.com/_microtonality/BP/ |date=2012-06-11 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ziaspace.com/elaine/BP/Media.html |title=Elaine Walker's media page |access-date=2010-02-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090307225737/http://www.ziaspace.com/elaine/BP/Media.html |archive-date=2009-03-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[Richard Boulanger|Dr. Richard Boulanger]].<ref>[http://www.berklee.edu/faculty/detail/richard-boulanger Dr. Boulanger's Biography]</ref>

==See also==
* [[Concertina]]s have a somewhat similar key arrangement

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20091024203804/http://vipre.uws.edu.au/tiem/?p=701 Sonome], ‘Tiem’ Taxonomy of Realtime Interfaces for Electronic Music Performance, Compiled by Jon Drummond and Garth Paine.

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[[Category:Isomorphic keyboard layouts]]

[[es:Tabla armónica (teclado)]]