Harmonicas: Finding the Harp that Fits Your Needs

Harmonicas are wonderful musical instruments. They're versatile, they're relatively inexpensive, they fit in your pocket, and their music can evoke a wide range of feelings. Harmonicas - or harps, as they are commonly called - are used in a wide variety of musical genres, such as bluegrass, the blues, folk, rock, country, Gospel, jazz, and even Classical music.

If you want to learn to play the harp and are planning to take instruction, you should understand the different types of harmonicas that are available. The leading makers of harmonicas include Suzuki, Hering, Hohner, and Bushman. Beyond brands, though, there are other differences you should know about.

The harmonica that most people are familiar with is the ten-hole "Blues harp." Each of the holes has two reeds, which are tuned to play different notes. Blues harps come in virtually every key, and each harmonica can play 19 musical notes.

Blues harps are a subcategory of diatonic harmonicas, so named because of the two reeds in each hole. Diatonic harmonics generally play only one key. Another type of diatonic harmonica is the octave harmonica, which is tuned so that each hole plays the same note, only an octave apart from one another. The tremolo harmonica also has two reeds, but one plays a slightly flat note and the other plays a slightly sharp note. 

A different category of harmonica is the chromatic harmonica. These harmonicas typically have twelve, fourteen, or sixteen holes, and four reeds per hole. They also have a sliding bar that moves the air from the mouthpiece to a specific reed plate. Chromatic harmonicas are most often used in jazz and Classical music.

Harmonica Instruction

When you learn to play the harmonica, you'll first be taught how to breathe correctly. Because successfully playing the harmonica involves both breathing out and breathing in, it's important to breathe from your diaphragm. You'll also learn how to correctly hold the harmonica, how to move it, and how to position your lips so you'll achieve the right notes. You'll also learn harmonica tablature, or tabs, which in instruction that replaces the need for learning to read music. Harmonica tabs tell you what actions you need to take, such as blowing in the fifth and sixth holes, rather than simply showing you music notation. For example, tablature might indicate an upward arrow with a number above it, indicating that you need to blow on that numbered hole, followed by a downward area with a number on top, indicating that you need to inhale on that hole. Tabs make learning to play the harmonica much easier than learning to play other instruments.

Choosing a Harp

Most harmonica instruction is given in the key of C, so it's probably best to buy a diatonic or Blues harp in the key of C. Most experts recommend that beginners purchase harmonicas with plastic or aluminum combs (the body of the harmonica) rather than wood. Plastic and metal are both more comfortable and more durable. However, you should be aware that, over time, you'll probably buy and try several different brands of harmonicas. Each person is unique, and each has to find the harmonica that is the best fit for his or her playing style.

Accordions Are Enjoying a Resurgence in Popularity

Although the mainstream music world has often relegated accordions to second-class status, squeezeboxes are once again coming into their own. Making appearances in productions ranging from those of Cirque du Soleil to albums from top name rock stars, the accordion's unique sound is getting some well-deserved attention.

Although most people can conjure up a mental picture of an accordian, many do not realize that there are several different kinds of accordions, developed over the years for specific musical genres. As free reed instruments, the opening and closing of an accordion's bellows (or squeezebox) causes the air to flow over the reeds, which makes the sound. An accordion also has buttons, or both buttons and a keyboard. These serve to direct the airflow to certain reeds and not others, thereby controlling the tones played.

Some accordions have one row of buttons; some have two rows of buttons; and still others have three rows. Accordions with one row of buttons include the Hohner Concertina and the Hohner Ariette. The latter is often used for playing Cajun, Quebecois, Zydeco, and Irish folk music. These buttons typically play the diatonic scale, with each button able to play two notes: one when the bellows is squeezed in and another when it is spread apart. An accordian with one row of buttons is often tuned for the type of music being played. For example, certain reeds may be filled in order to produce the sounds typically associated with Cajun music. The Hohner Ariette, for instance, has ten treble buttons, two bass buttons, four sets of treble reeds, and three sets of bass reeds.

A two-row button accordion typically has 21 treble buttons, eight bass/chord buttons, and two sets of treble reeds. Such an accordian is available in key combinations like GC, AD, CF, and DG. A three-row button accordion, such as the Hohner Corona, has 31 treble buttons and two sets of treble reeds. The third row of keys means that the key combinations differ from those of a two-button accordion, and might be, for example, GCF, FBbEb, EAD, and ADG.

A piano accordion is fully chromatic instrument with a varying number of piano keys, depending on the size of the instrument. From the gold standard Gola piano accordion to the Hohnica piano accordion for the budget minded, there truly is a piano accordion for everyone.

One of the most beautiful aspects of accordions is that they can't be completely mass-produced and assembled. Like other fine musical instruments, the handmade components (in the case of accordions, most notably the reeds) are what give the instrument its unique sound.

There's no doubt that the accordian has traveled far from its stereotypical uses as an instrument for polkas. From Cajun and Zydeco to Klezmer and Classical music, from Lawrence Welk to Sheryl Crow, accordions are here to stay.