Harmonica

[Ciel_Rouge]

A few months ago I was considering the recorder as an inexpensive, portable and easy instrument for recreational attempts at playing and composing. However, I always found them to sound a bit off tune and not that easy to be really good at. Therefore, while still playing with the idea, I also turned to the harmonica as it is equally inexpensive, ultra portable and probably not that difficult to play. I was wondering:

1. do any of GMG-ers play the harmonica?
2. how difficult is it to really play tunes?
3. do I really have to stick my tongue in there or maybe just use my lips (how about hygiene?)
4. does it have a place in classical music? what pieces would be suitable for that? is transcription from e.g. recorder scores necessary?

And finally, this is what I would like to sound like - please recommend a suitable kind of harmonica as I have no idea about the "chromatnic", "diatonic" and even "C major":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93iEJlrdahE

[owlice]

Some info on classical harmonica is here: http://www.ksanti.net/free-reed/history/harmonica.html

I can play a tune or two on the harmonica (nothing like my elder sibling, however, who plays quite well). They are fun and pretty easy to play. However, you'd get more classical music mileage out of a recorder IMO. Recorders are also pretty easy to play... but so far as I know, no instrument is easy to be really good at. They all take practice to play well, even the harmonica.

You might enjoy these: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzY_KZTSXJk
http://www.stupidvideos.com/video/song_dance/Harmonium_/

And for extra credit (and because I used to be able to play a tune or two on an accordion), this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gaZJ-_uEz8&feature=related

[KevinP]

Depends on what you want to do. If you just want to play single-note melodies, you can probably just pucker, but for anything beyond that (or, really, anything with an audience), it would be really hard to progress without using the tongue.  As for hygiene,  you can clean it of course. And is the tongue really any worse than the lips in this regard? or the harmonica than the clarinet?

How to difficult to play tunes? The hardest part (for me at least) was (is) knowing where I am, or where to go to get the target note.  Going from G up to A or B ain't nothing, of course, but going from G up to, say, F is harder because: a) I have to think about what hole to hit; and b) (more importantly) you really can't count how many holes you're skipping.  But if it's just for composing melodies, it wouldn't be that big a deal.

As for having a place in classical music, I have to recommend my former professor's compositions for orchestra and harmonica:

[owlice]

Oh, that shirt!!!

[Ciel_Rouge]

Don't judge the album by the shirt owlice Thanks all for your advice. However, as I mentioned before I am completely at sea with all the terminology. I could check it in Wiki but it still is very UFO to me. What does "diatonic" REALLY mean? How does the fact of being diatonic affect the way a harmonica sounds? And how about "C major" - of course I am familiar with "major" and "minor" meaning happy and sad but would I be able to play a nostalgic tune on a "C major" harmonica? 

[Szykneij]

Don't judge the album by the shirt owlice Thanks all for your advice. However, as I mentioned before I am completely at sea with all the terminology. I could check it in Wiki but it still is very UFO to me. What does "diatonic" REALLY mean? How does the fact of being diatonic affect the way a harmonica sounds? And how about "C major" - of course I am familiar with "major" and "minor" meaning happy and sad but would I be able to play a nostalgic tune on a "C major" harmonica? 

Simply put, the only notes available to you on a diatonic C (major) harmonica would be those produced by the white keys on a piano. You couldn't play most tunes in a-minor because the g-sharp that would be required is not part of the C-major scale, although I believe accomplished harmonica players are able to bend notes to produce some chromatic tones.

[Diletante]

Don't judge the album by the shirt owlice Thanks all for your advice. However, as I mentioned before I am completely at sea with all the terminology. I could check it in Wiki but it still is very UFO to me. What does "diatonic" REALLY mean? How does the fact of being diatonic affect the way a harmonica sounds? And how about "C major" - of course I am familiar with "major" and "minor" meaning happy and sad but would I be able to play a nostalgic tune on a "C major" harmonica? 

A chromatic harmonica is more fitting for classical music. In a 12-hole chromatic harmonica you can play all the semitones of three octaves starting on the note your harmonica is tuned in. In other words, if you buy a chromatic harmonica in C-major, the lowest note you can play is C (I think it's C4) and the highest would be a D three octaves and one tone higher (D7?), and you can play all the notes between those two. There are also harmonicas with more holes and octaves.

Chromatic harmonicas have a button on the side that lets you play a note a semitone higher when pressed. And you probably already know that in the harmonica you can play different notes by blowing into and aspiring from the instrument.

This page is very informative:

http://www.coast2coastmusic.com/chromatic/index.shtml

[KevinP]

I think you can only bend certain notes, so the full chromatic range is not available.

Bending is also notoriously hard to learn--it's easy when you know how but really hard to learn, rather like learning to whistle or blow bubbles.

[jochanaan]

Simply put, the only notes available to you on a diatonic C (major) harmonica would be those produced by the white keys on a piano. You couldn't play most tunes in a-minor because the g-sharp that would be required is not part of the C-major scale, although I believe accomplished harmonica players are able to bend notes to produce some chromatic tones.

Actually, most good jazz/blues/etc. harmonica players can bend pitches.

For what kind of harmonica did Saint Saëns write the part in Le carnaval des animaux?

[Szykneij]

For what kind of harmonica did Saint Saëns write the part in Le carnaval des animaux?

Glass Harmonica (different animal completely)



http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,11638.msg380668.html#msg380668

[jochanaan]

Glass Harmonica (different animal completely)

Oh, very interesting!  Somehow I assumed those went out of fashion after Mozart's death; I should have known better.  Yes, glasses make much more sense there than free reeds.