This week I will
be exploring the the harmonica. Now, the harmonica is
a lot more complex than one might think, and also sometimes gets forgotten
about, perhaps due to its size, so instead of going right in to how it came to
be I will first give a brief explanation about the instrument. There are
several kinds, but for today we will be focusing on the diatonic harmonica,
which some might call the standard harmonica.
The harmonic is
a pocket-sized wind instrument and within it contains multiple reeds that are
all individually tuned to produce a different note. The reeds are encased in a
reed plate, which protects them and isolates their vibration. Each harmonica
has two reed plates. The top one is for blow notes (notes produces when the
player blows air) and the bottom one is for draw notes (notes produced when the
player draws/suck in air). So, when you
look at a harmonica and you see all the holes, this means that when you blow
into one, a certain note is produced, but when you draw form that same hole a
different note is produced.
Now for the
history! Christian Friedrich Buschmann patented the first harmonica in Europe
in 1821 when he was just 16 years old. This model only produced blow notes (and
no draw notes), but people became impressed with its compact size and
capability with dynamics (meaning to play loudly and softly). In 1826, an
instrument maker known as Richter improved Bushmann’s design by adding the
second reed plate. This one would produce the draw notes. Now, the instruments
range became significantly larger and therefore much more popular. Matthias
Hohner, a German clock maker aided in the burst of popularity by becoming a
major harmonica manufacturer in 1857. In 1862, Hohner took his harmonicas to
North America and ever since, their popularity here never died. There you have
it, a brief history of the harmonica, a fun and sometimes forgotten instrument.
If you’re unsure
if you’ve ever heard a harmonica before, here are a couple classic rock songs
where a harmonica is featured:
What I Like
About You by The Romantics
Take The Long
Way Home by Supertramp
Piano Man by Billy Joel
Sources:
I find the harmonica to be a really cool instrument! It is so little, but can play a big role when it comes to music. I had absolutely no idea that the draw notes were completely different notes than the blow notes. This was a very interesting post!
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