Harmonica History...

Allen Ng
Taylor
English 68
February 3, 2010
Harmony-ca
“There are only two responses you get when you say you play the harmonica. The first is, “My uncle plays the harmonica! He can play When the Saints go Marching in!” Or, you MUST LOVE Bob Dylan then!” (Tin Sandwich Anyone?)
Some may call it: The Ten-Holed Tin-can Tongue Twister, Tin Sandwich, Pocket Pal, Pocket Sax, Mississippi Saxophone, the Hand Reed, and the Harp, but we all know it as the harmonica. Although it maybe underestimated and seen as a toy, this bite-size instrument is at the heart of Blues music. The harmonica’s literal definition is the mouth organ. With its portability and soul-full sound it has been in music history for centuries. The harmonica is used in a variety of music, from folk to rock n roll; Muddy Waters to the Beatles. The harmonica is a great asset in music as can be seen and heard from its unique construction, history, and players.

The diatonic harmonica’s unique yet simple structure is composed of three main parts, the cover plate, the comb, and the reed plates. The first main component is the cover plate, much like the bread of a sandwich; it holds shape and support of the harmonica together. It is divided into two pieces, top and bottom and is usually constructed of nickle. It is engraved with numbers from one through ten above each blowhole, to indicate the pitch of each note; from lowest to highest.
If the cover plates are the bread of this tin can sandwich, then the comb is the lettuce. The comb provides ten separated aligned holes which air is able to travel through into the reeds of the harmonica to produce its rich tone. But unlike the cover plates the material of the comb does determine the tone of the harmonica.
Materials used for the comb of the harmonica have their own tonal characteristics and unique quality (Music 2003). Now we get to the meat of the sandwich, the reeds. The reeds lay above and below the comb and are perfectly aligned to each hole. The top set of reeds is called blow reeds, which vibrates and produces sound when air is blown into the harmonica. While the bottom set is called draw reeds, similar to its brother, they produced notes when air is drawn between the reeds through the harmonica. “The pitch and resultant scale of the harmonica is directly related to two factors; the material that the reeds are made of and the length of the reed” (Music 2003). Screws are then fastened to hold the parts together.

The history of the harmonica dates back to 1821 in Germany, where Christian Friedrich Buschmann developed the first harmonica called the Aura, "An awkward design, it offered only blow notes arranged chromatically" (Euxton). As time progressed new innovations changed the structure of the aura.

A Bohemian instrument maker named Richter may have made the most important advancements in early harmonica design. Around 1826, he developed a variation that consisted of ten holes and twenty reeds, with separate blow and draw reed plates mounted on either side of a cedar comb. Richter's tuning, utilizing a diatonic scale, became the standard configuration of what Europeans referred to as the Mundharmonika or mouth organ (Euxton).

During 1857, German clock maker Matthias Hohner started manufacturing harmonicas full-time with the help from family and coworkers (Euxton). Hohner wanted to reach the world market with his product. "In 1865, he sent a small supply of his harmonicas to his cousins, who had emigrated to America a few years earlier, with the intent of establishing a market for his product" (Music 2003).
The harmonica practically sold itself due to its small design, distinctive sound, and cheap price. According to Richard Levine, "In the years between the two world wars-- a period called the "golden age of the mouth organ in America-- sales of the tiny, inexpensive instrument increased dramatically." During this time the price for a harp was only ten cents! This lead to the involvement of the harmonica in the Blues. “The reason why this got into the Blues the way it did is its inexpensiveness, which is a thing of the past” (Tin Sandwich Anyone?). Sometimes being cheap is a good thing.

There have been many famous harp players throughout history. One of the most influential Blues harmonica player was Sonny Boy William, the man that brought the harp to center stage. Sonny Boy Williams was proclaimed to the future of the Blues during the 1930's. The way he played sounded as if tears were dripping from every hole of the harmonica. "Sonny Boy made the harp the lead instrument in the blues and his first recordings were in country style. He is considered as one of most important and creative blues performers to emerge during the mid-to late 1930's" (Players: Pioneers in Blues). Lee Oskar is also another key player in harmonica culture, known by his jazzy playing style as the lead harmonica in the band War.

"There's no one in the pop music world quite like Lee Oskar. His unique role as a founding member and former lead harmonica player for the pioneer funk/jazz group, WAR, won him international renown for over two and a half decades (1969-1993). Oskar's signature harp solos helped to define the WAR sound from the band's beginning in 1969, adding dashes of color to their R&B/Jazz/Rock and Latin influences. (Players: Cross Category)

Lee Oskor is still big name in harmonica's today through his own brand of harmonicas.
Another great harmonica player is Sugar Blue. Raised in Harleem, the only Blues that Sugar Blue grew up as kid were the songs that aired on the radio stations. "Sugar Blue has used this background to his advantage, though, creating an ultra-modern blues style and sound that is instantly recognizable as his own" (Players: Blues). These are just three of the vast sea of harpists through history.


From its construction, history, and musicians, the harmonica stands firm in music culture today. Just as the classical harp is brings pleasures to ears with its soft angle-like tone and pitch of its strings, the blues harp delivers a sense of relief from the emotional struggles we hold within. Randall E. Auxie describes it as, “The way we experience the music so that the sounds make sense, have a pattern and an order that we can understand” (Pink Floyd and Philosophy 204).



Work Sited
Auxie E. Randall. "It's All Dark: The Eclipse of the Damaged Brain." Pink Floyd and Philosophy, 2007. Ed. George A Reisch. Pueru, Illinois. 2007. Print.

Euxton. "The History of the Harmonica." Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

Levine Richard. "Harmonica Bands." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. Vol. 2. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. pg 370-371.

Harmonica Links. "Players: Blues." AYM Music. Web. 3 Feb. 2010.

Harmonica Links. "Players: Cross Category." AYM Music. Web. 3 Feb. 2010

Harmonica Links. "Players: Pioneers in Blues." AYM Music. Web. 3 Feb. 2010.

Music Folk Features. "Harmonica History and Construction." 2003. Web. 2 Feb 2010.

Tin Sandwich Anyone? A History of the Harmonica. Perf. Rory McLeod, Will Galison, Paul Jones, Brendan Power and Charlie Leighton. BBC. Youtube.