Harmonica

What it means

Harmonika is a collective term for instruments with free reeds. With the mouth organ (harmonica), the player's breath passes directly over the metal reeds sitting in a body of chambers; with the hand-held harmonika, that is, accordion, bandoneon, and concertina, a bellows produces the airstream. Common to all is the principle: a thin metal reed vibrates through a precisely fitting frame and thereby produces the note, whose pitch depends on the length and mass of the reed. The name is also met in compounds such as glass harmonica, where it has nothing to do with reeds.

Musical use

Reed instruments arose in the nineteenth century and spread quickly because they are robust, portable, and stable in tuning. The harmonica is anchored in numerous traditions of folk and popular music, especially in the blues, where techniques such as bending the pitch belong to the core of the style; diatonic models are tailored to one key, chromatic ones have a slide for the semitones. Hand-held harmonikas carry melody, bass, and chords at the same time and are therefore accompanying and solo instrument in one. The sound is rich in overtones and assertive, which demands consideration in large ensembles.

Performance practice

With the harmonica, draw and blow are of equal value — practise both directions evenly and work with calm breath instead of force, because too strong an airstream detunes or damages the reeds. Single notes succeed with pursed lips or with the tongue blocking several channels; both ways are usual. Do not play directly after eating and tap the instrument out after use so that the reeds stay free. With hand-held harmonikas, bellows control is the means of expression; plan changes at phrase boundaries. Store all reed instruments dry.

Remember that diatonic harmonicas are tailored to one key: for other keys one changes the instrument instead of rethinking. Keep a set in several tunings ready and label the instruments. Bending the pitch demands practice and harms the reeds if applied too forcefully; work with mouth cavity and tongue instead of pressure. With hand-held harmonikas it is worthwhile to mark bellows changes in the score, because they determine the phrasing and should not be left to chance.