Harmonica Orchestra, the China Harmonica Society,[8] and the Heart String Harmonica Society. The harmonica was invented in the 1820s as an aid for tuning pianos. John Popper of Blues Traveler uses a customized microphone that encapsulates several of these effects into one handheld unit, as opposed to several units in sequence. Submitted by ArtistWorks on Thu, 07/03/2014 - 12:36pm. The type that is used in a harmonica can be described as heteroglottal - meaning the reed is attached to a separately-made reedplate. Tuning may involve changing a reed’s length, the weight near its free end, or the stiffness near its fixed end. Wood and metal materials for harmonicas were in short supply because of military demand. Dispute exists among players about whether comb material affects the tone of a harmonica. They became relatively well known in Europe after being introduced by the French Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot (1718–1793), who lived in Qing-era China. Other types followed soon thereafter, including the various tremolo and octave harmonicas. However, less expensive models often have only one reed per note. By 1868, he began supplying the United States. It is embossed: As is often the case, he was simply a great businessman in the right place at the right time. Serious players devote significant effort to restoring wood combs and sealing leaks. The glass harmonica has the word "harmonica" in its name, but it is not related to free-reed instruments. He wasn't even a good harmonica player himself. There are two types of minor key tunings, "natural minor" suitable for folk and contemporary music, and Latin American music, and the "harmonic minor" suitable for some famous Japanese pieces. Modern wooden-combed harmonicas are less prone to swelling and contracting, but modern players still dip their harmonicas in water for the way it affects tone and ease of bending notes. In the 1970s, the Haletone Harmonica Orchestra (曉彤口琴隊)[10] was set up at Wong Tai Sin Community Centre. In the 21st century, radical new designs have been developed and are still being introduced into the market, such as the Suzuki Overdrive, Hohner XB-40, and the ill-fated Harrison B-Radical. This device is used by folk musicians, one-man bands, and singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Tom Harmon, Neil Young, Eddie Vedder, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, and blues singers Jimmy Reed and John Hammond Jr. Sound is created when pressure (air) is applied to make the reed vibrate in its place. [5] Mouth-blown free-reed instruments appeared in the United States, South America, the United Kingdom and Europe at roughly the same time. Let’s take a trip back in time, way back to the year 2500 BC. Our huge range of products are in stock and available for immediate shipping. This page is for updating the "Encyclopedia of The Harmonica". They are chromatic instruments and are usually played in an East Asian harmonica orchestra instead of the "push-button" chromatic harmonica that is more common in the European and American tradition. Most harmonicas are constructed with the reed plates screwed or bolted to the comb or each other. Kratt Company, which, founded by German-American William Jacob "Bill" Kratt Sr., originally made pitch pipes and later, in 1952, secured a patent for combs made of plastic. [11][12][13][14], When President Ronald Reagan suffered a punctured lung in the 1981 attempt on his life, his breathing therapist was Howard McDonald, of the Cambridge Harmonica Orchestra. Each of the glass cups is tuned to a different note, and they are arranged in a scalar order. In 1898, the harmonica was brought to Japan, where the Tremolo harmonica was the most popular instrument. This difference in response to air direction makes it possible to include both a blow reed and a draw reed in the same air chamber and to play them separately without relying on flaps of plastic or leather (valves, wind-savers) to block the nonplaying reed. Harmonikafabrik Ch. The harmonica started to gain popularity in Hong Kong in the 1930s. This technique is called bending, a term possibly borrowed from guitarists, who literally bend a string to subtly change the pitch. This gave his harmonica tone a "punchy" midrange sound that could be heard above an electric guitar. In 1910, they introduced the chromatic harmonica, enabling the player to perform music of all keys on one instrument. After about 30 years, the Japanese developed scale tuning and semitone harmonicas that could play Japanese folk songs. From these two basic types, a few modern designs have been created, such as the Hohner CBH-2016 chromatic and the Suzuki Overdrive diatonic, which have complex covers that allow for specific functions not usually available in the traditional design. It is a Prima Donna model, with 16 double holes and 32 reeds. The many types of harmonica include diatonic, chromatic, tremolo, octave, orchestral, and bass versions. He and the ironworker Langhammer copied the instruments in Graslitz three miles away; by 1827 they had produced hundreds of harmonicas. of harmonicus (see harmonic); modern sense of "reeded mouth organ" is 1873, American English, earlier harmonicon (1825). The removable harmonica fits into a slot in a separate gold tone metal resonator. Encyclopedia of the Harmonica has 4,786 members. Listeners could play along with the program to increase their proficiency. The basic parts of the harmonica are the comb, reed plates, and cover plates. This gives a quick pitch-alternating technique that is slightly more than vibrato and achieves the same aural effect on sustained notes, albeit by using two different tones instead of varying the amplitude of one. If, as on most modern harmonicas, a reed is affixed above or below its slot rather than in the plane of the slot, it responds more easily to air flowing in the direction that initially would push it into the slot, i.e., as a closing reed. In Europe and the United States, tremolo harmonica uses the Richter tuning, developed in Germany. An email has been sent with instructions on how to reset your password. He started his business in 1857, about 30 years after the first harmonica manufacturer which was in Vienna, Austria. It is The Premier model in the key of G, with 10 single holes and 20 reeds. An important technique in performance is bending, causing a drop in pitch by making embouchure adjustments. Some players used to soak wooden-combed harmonicas (diatonics, without wind-savers) in water to cause a slight expansion, which they intended to make the seal between the comb, reed plates, and covers more airtight. Limited … Individual reeds are usually riveted to the reed plate, but they may also be welded or screwed in place. It is laid out in four-note clusters, each sounding a different chord on inhaling or exhaling. This harmonica was made by an unknown maker in Germany, undetermined date. As we’ll see later, an ambitious musician named Howard Levy would discover an unprecedented way to play diatonic harmonica... a way to reach all the notes of the scale, in any key using a process called overblowing. The violin and viola were replaced by 12-hole and 16-hole chromonicas; cello by chord harmonica, contra bass and octave bass; double bass by octave bass; flute by pipe soprano; clarinet by pipe alto; trumpet by horn soprano; trombone by horn alto; oboe by melodica soprano; English horn by melodica alto; French horn by melodica professional. Wind-savers are used when two reeds share a cell and leakage through the nonplaying reed would be significant. Other diatonic harmonicas include octave harmonicas. There are also recordings featuring the harmonica in jug bands, of which the Memphis Jug Band is the most famous. Another version has one "sharp" reed directly above its "natural" on the lower plate, with the same number of reeds on both plates (therefore including E♯ and B♯). The Hohner company’s innovations did not stop there however. He had such success that eventually his brother and some relatives also started to make harmonicas. The original harmonica racks were made from wire or coat hangers. harmonica (n.) 1762, coined by Ben Franklin as the name for a glass harmonica, from Latin fem. The only recent American contender in the harmonica market was Harrison Harmonicas, which folded in July 2011. The other type of orchestral melodic harmonica is the polyphonia, (though some are marked "chromatica"). Its portable size sparks curiosity among many, and make us wonder just how this instrument first developed and rose to popularity. A notable exception to the traditional reed plate design is the all-plastic harmonicas designed by Finn Magnus in the 1950s, in which the reed and reed plate were molded out of a single piece of plastic. This tuning is also suited to local music throughout East Asia, and harmonicas using the tuning became popular in the region. Owing to competition between the harmonica factories in Trossingen and Klingenthal, machines were invented to punch the covers for the reeds. A harmonica holder clamps the harmonica between two metal brackets, which are attached to a curved loop of metal that rests on the shoulders. American Larry Adler was one of the first harmonica players to perform major works written for the instrument by the composers Ralph Vaughan Williams, Malcolm Arnold, Darius Milhaud, and Arthur Benjamin. Harmonica players who amplify their instrument with microphones and tube amplifiers, such as blues harp players, also have a range of techniques that exploit properties of the microphone and the amplifier, such as changing the way the hands are cupped around the instrument and the microphone or rhythmically breathing or chanting into the microphone while playing. Harmonica players who play the instrument while performing on another instrument with their hands (e.g., an acoustic guitar) often use an accessory called a neck rack or harmonica holder to position the instrument in front of their mouths. The type that is used in a harmonica can be described as, For centuries, free reed wind instruments. But the harmonica still represented a toy instrument in those years and was associated with the poor. Both companies ceased harmonica production. In 1830, Christian Messner, a cloth maker and weaver from Trossingen, copied a harmonica his neighbour had brought from Vienna. 95 $24.95 $24.95. Many harmonica players still prefer tube amplifiers to solid-state ones, owing to the perceived difference in tone generated by the vacuum tubes. Many pulmonary rehabilitation programs[specify] therefore have begun to incorporate the harmonica. Descended from 2: a small rectangular wind instrument with free reeds recessed in air slots from which tones are sounded by exhaling and inhaling Those saying no argue that unlike the soundboard of a piano or the top piece of a violin or guitar, a harmonica's comb is neither large enough nor able to vibrate freely enough to substantially augment or change the sound. They followed the invention of the double-strung harp, which had two rows of strings strategically tuned for use of two-handed playing; by passing a finger between two strings a harpist could reach the corresponding chromatic note in the other row. The harmonica was a success almost from the very start of production, and while the center of the harmonica business has shifted from Germany, the output of the various harmonica manufacturers is still very high. The reeds are most commonly made from metal, plastic, or bamboo. Franklin began to take his beloved armonica with him when he traveled and played popular Scottish tunes or original compositions for his audiences. Due to its tonal possibilities, it became one of the main instruments for playing blues and country music. Accessioned with original cardboard box. Holes 2, 3, and 4 play a diminished chord; holes 3, 4, and 5 play a minor chord; and holes 4, 5, and 6 play an augmented, for a total of sixteen chords. The Suzuki SSCH-56 Compact Chord harmonica is a 48-chord harmonica built in a 14-hole chromatic harmonica enclosure. The comb is the main body of the instrument, which, when assembled with the reed plates, forms air chambers for the reeds. New in box and High Quality. Reeds are tuned to individual pitches. Depending on the country, "diatonic harmonica" may mean either the tremolo harmonica (in East Asia) or blues harp (in Europe and North America). For centuries, free reed wind instruments in various sizes and forms spread throughout South East Asia to the Phillippines and Thailand, and then later to Korea and Japan. One was Magnus Harmonica Corporation, whose founder Finn Magnus is credited with the development of plastic harmonica reeds. Detailed features vary from place to place. The harmonica's versatility brought it to the attention of classical musicians during the 1930s. Harmonica Key Of C Scale 24 Holes 48 Tones Professional Tremolo Polyphonic , Find Complete Details about Harmonica Key Of C Scale 24 Holes 48 Tones Professional Tremolo Polyphonic,Harmonica,Chromatic Harmonica,Chromatic Harmonica 24hole from Harmonica Supplier or Manufacturer-Chopra Musicals An effect similar to vibrato is that of the 'trill' (or 'roll', or 'warble, or 'shake'); this technique has the player move their lips between two holes very quickly, either by shaking the head in a rapid motion or moving the harmonica from side to side within the embouchure. Also, a "hands-free" modification to the Hohner 270 (12-hole) lets the player shift the tones by moving the mouthpiece up and down with the lips, leaving the hands free to play another instrument. The simple but expressive forms of the blues became by the 1960s one of the most important influences on the development of popular music. Some expensive, handmade boutique amplifiers, however, are built from the ground up with characteristics that are optimal for amplified harmonica. The harmonica is stamped:
Its 11-hole mouthpiece can slide along the front of the harmonica, which gives numerous chord choices and voicings (seven triads, three 6th chords, seven 7th chords, and seven 9th chords, for a total of 24 chords). Their reeds are often larger, and the enclosing "horn" gives them a different timbre, so that they often function in place of a brass section. He called it “Aura” (shown on the right) - it had a metal reed and you could only produce blow notes. In October 2012, it was revealed that a Beloit, Wisconsin, investment corporation, R&R Opportunities, had bought the assets of Harrison Harmonicas and that a feasibility study was under way to assess the possibilities of continued production of the Harrison B-Radical harmonica. [7] The patent for the plastic comb, however, was awarded to William Kratt of Wm. The Chinese YMCA Harmonica Orchestra started in the 1960s, with 100 members, most of whom played harmonicas. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, harmonicas not uncommonly had special features on the covers, such as bells, which could be rung by pushing a button. A chromatic harmonica reaches all notes of a scale; a diatonic harmonica, offering access to seven pitches, requires the player to blow or suck out the air to access all notes. During World War II, the War Department allotted a rationed supply of brass to Kratt's factory so they could continue to produce harmonicas that the Red Cross distributed to American troops overseas to boost morale. (Currently, only C.A. $15.95 $ 15. Accessioned with original cardboard box. In 1829, Johann Wilhelm Rudolph Glier also began making harmonicas. Over time, the basic design and tuning proved adaptable to other types of music such as the blues, country, old-time and more. Hohner’s success made the harmonica much more popular and readily available to a new audience. 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