Harmonica (i) [mouth organ]

(Fr. harmonica à bouche; Ger. Mundharmonika; It. armonica a bocca).

An instrument consisting of a small casing containing a series of free reeds in channels leading to holes on the side of the instrument (for illustration, see Reed instruments). It is placed between the lips and played by inhalation and exhalation, unwanted holes being masked by the tongue. By moving the instrument to and fro, the varying notes available are brought into play.

There are two main types of harmonica – the diatonic and the chromatic. Basically, the diatonic harmonica is designed to produce the notes of the tonic chord of the key in which it is tuned by exhalation and the other notes of the diatonic scale by inhalation. On this type of instrument only the middle octave of the three-octave range is complete, the lower and upper octaves having a ‘gapped’ scale (fig.1a). This applies to both the ‘Richter’ or ‘Vamper’ type and the so-called ‘Tremolo’ or Wiener type which has two reeds for each note, one reed being slightly off-tuned to create a ‘voix céleste’ or vibrato effect. The chromatic harmonica consists basically of two harmonicas in keys a semitone apart, and originally was based on the ‘Vamper’ system, two reed plates being fitted, one tuned in C, the other in C (or D), with a slide mechanism operated by a small hand-lever enabling the player to change from one set to the other. This early type of chromatic instrument (10 holes, 40 reeds) was soon superseded by the 12-hole instrument with 48 reeds (fig.2) in which the tuning of the middle octave of the previously mentioned types was adopted throughout the three-octave range (fig.1b). This type of instrument is now virtually standard, although a larger model (16 holes, 64 reeds) with a range of four octaves is also available. Many other types of harmonica exist, designed for special purposes, and include bass and chord accompaniment instruments for use in group and band performance.

The introduction of the Chinese sheng into Europe in 1777 led to many experiments in the use of the free reed. In the 1820s a succession of free-reed instruments were invented (see Accordion; Concertina; and Reed organ), including Anton Haeckl’s Physharmonika (1821) and Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann’s Handäoline (1822). In the wake of these developments the harmonica came into being in Vienna in the mid-1820s. Although it is not known for certain who invented it, a possible candidate is Georg Anton Reinlein who took out an early patent in February 1824 ‘for the fabrication of a harmonica in the “Chinese manner”’. Early harmonicas were hand-made, the wooden body-work carved and the reeds beaten from brass wire and fitted individually into the brass or bell metal reed-plates. Soon a second reed-plate, which produced notes by sucking the air in, was added below the original one, greatly expanding the harmonica’s potential.

Originally perceived as a novelty instrument, the harmonica was first sold as a children’s toy at markets and by door-to-door peddlers. It later became popular with adults as an instrument for private use, played for entertainment on walks or at indoor parties. The harmonica spread rapidly all over Europe and beyond. By the early 1830s it was already known from England to Australia. Four more production centres arose at that time, in the small towns of Trossingen (where the firm of Hohner was founded in 1857) and Knittlingen in south-west Germany, Klingenthal in Saxony and Graslitz (now Kraslice), Bohemia. The instrument sold well and became widely popular because it was inexpensive, small and easily portable, and relatively easy to play. Because it had fixed notes it demanded little prior musical knowledge, and no tuning was necessary. As a result of mechanization in the 1880s it became an instrument of mass production and was soon played in almost every country in the world. It reached its peak in the late 1920s when the German harmonica industry, which by then had gained a worldwide monopoly, was producing more than 50 million instruments a year. 22·8 million were exported to the USA, 5·4 million to Great Britain, 3·1 million to India and 1·3 million to Italy. German harmonicas were also sold in Argentina, Canada, Romania, the Netherlands, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil and Turkey.

Harmonica manufacturers increased their sales by adopting new advertising methods. Catalogues and leaflets flooded the shops and retailers, while posters, whirling display stands and complete shop window decorations were also on offer. Instructors travelled thousands of miles visiting schools, youth groups and scout camps to introduce young people to the instrument and to form harmonica bands. Mail order companies made the instrument available in even the most isolated areas. Famous movie stars such as Buster Keaton were hired for big screen advertisements, harmonica players gave recitals and talent contests were organized for children. In America, in 1925, the Christmas tree in the White House was decorated with 50 harmonicas which prompted huge media interest. In New York a weekly radio programme, the ‘Hohner Harmony Hour’, taught people how to play. The designs of the instruments and their boxes also boosted sales. They were an ideal medium for reaching specific social groups and manufacturers reacted quickly to changes in politics (fig.3), technology, fashion and culture (fig.4). A harmonica was produced in the shape of a boomerang for the Australian market which proved a big success (fig.5). In Britain an instrument in the shape of a bombshell named the ‘Cartridge Harp’ was sold during the Boer War. Images of politicians, kings and queens on the boxes, as well as national symbols and important events, were also used as a marketing ploy.

The USA became the heartland of the harmonica. Nearly all styles of popular music embraced the instrument. It was played in hillbilly and gospel music, but the blues became its real domain, the bent notes and whimpering sounds produced by the harmonica adding emotion to the guitar players’ vocals. Musicians such as Sonny Terry, the two Sonny Boy Williamsons and Little Walter developed distinctive styles of playing, sometimes imitating the sound of trains and fox hunts. In the 1920s and 30s harmonica bands, pioneered by the Borrah Minevitch Harmonica Rascals, became popular on the vaudeville circuit. This kind of band reached a peak in the years of the recording ban from 1942 to 1944, when harmonica players substituted for all the other instrumentalists who were on strike. At that time players were not granted membership of the musicians’ union because the harmonica was not recognized as ‘a real musical instrument’.

In the 1920s the chromatic harmonica was developed; it was brought into prominence by Larry Adler in the late 1930s, followed later by Tommy Reilly. But despite the fact that serious works were writen for it by composers such as Darius Milhaud, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Malcolm Arnold and Arthur Benjamin, the harmonica was never fully accepted in the classical field. In jazz the harmonica gained respect through Jean ‘Toots’ Thielemans, who collaborated with Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson. At the end of the 20th century Howard Levy was exploiting its potential even further. The harmonica also regularly featured in pop music from the 1960s onwards. It was used by bands such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds, as well as by singers such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

J. Zepf: Die goldene Brücke (Trossingen, 1956)

Hundert Jahre Hohner 1857–1957 (Trossingen, 1957)

H. Herrmann: Einführung in die Satztechnik für Mundharmonika-instrumente (Trossingen, 1958)

A. Baines, ed.: Musical Instruments through the Ages (London, 1961, 2/1966/R)

M. Häffner: Harmonicas: die Geschichte der Branche in Bildern und Texten (Trossingen, 1991)

K. Field: Harmonicas, Harps and Heavy Breathers: the Evolution of the People’s Instrument (New York, 1993)

M. Häffner and C. Wagner: Made in Germany, Played in the USA: the History of the Mouth Organ in the USA/Die Geschichte der Mundharmonika in den USA (Trossingen, 1993)

C. Wagner, ed.: Die Mundharmonika: ein musikalischer Globetrotter (Berlin, 1996)

H. Berghoff: Zwischen Kleinstadt und Weltmarkt: Hohner und die Harmonika 1857–1961 (Paderborn, 1997)

IVOR BEYNON, G. ROMANI/CHRISTOPH WAGNER