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I was describing harmonics to a friend and it occurred to me that I don't know the convention for naming harmonics on bowed strings. I can read it in standard notation and I recognise the symbols, I just don't the convention for naming them when speaking.
On guitar one would say "play the nth-fret harmonic". So 5th fret or 12th fret harmonic is easy to say, find and reason about.
What would be the equivalent for bowed strings like cello or violin?
Thinking back to my string-playing days i recall describing natural harmonics by the resultant pitch of the node you're touching. So you have the 8ve (1st), 8ve & a 5th (2nd), 2 8ve (3rd), 2 8ve & a 3rd (4th), etc, etc. This would certainly be clear most string players — your bass players should be able to play beyond the 5th harmonic.
I have also used descriptions based on the node relative to the nut for higher harmonics — e.g. 8ve (1st), perfect 5th (2nd), perfect 4th (3rd), major 3rd (4th), minor 3rd (5th). This breaks down at a minor 2nd, but these higher harmonics are really only viable on cello & bass. As an aside, artificial harmonics take advantage of these relations, so your string player should understand "the harmonic at the perfect 4th."
If you name the string (for example - E string on the violin) and then the note (E, third ledger line) which has the harmonic sign (o) above it, then that gives all the info you need.
