Helen, of course the sound of an aeolian harp depends on how it is tuned. In my opinion (and in English/ German harp tradition) , it is important to tune all strings in the same tone (or an octave) because the first 6 tones of the ground-tone's harmonic give pleasant harmonies, but the following tones are closer together (up to half tones!) and give a cacophony when the ground tone of the strings is different. Just test the harp in high windspeeds and your ears will fall off... See also http://members.aol.com/woinem3/bilder/aeotoene.jpg for the gaps between the tones. It is the same for all ground tones! Sure, you can tune in different tones, but then you have to make sure, that the higher pitches are not reached by the instrument. As far as I know, the quality of an aeolian harp is considered as to get as many different tones as possible on ONE string. Uli