 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Encyclopedia :
H :
HA :
HAR :
Harmonica |
|
|
HarmonicaA harmonica is a free reed musical wind instrument (also known, among other things, as a mouth organ, french harp, simply harp, or "Mississippi saxophone"), having multiple, variably-tuned brass or bronze reedss, each secured at one end over an airway slot of like dimension into which it can freely vibrate, thus repeatedly interrupting an airstream to produce sound. Unlike most free-reed instruments (such as reed organss, accordions The harmonica is commonly used in blues and folk music, but Parts of the harmonica The harmonica consists of a "comb" made of wood or plastic which Harmonica typesThe diatonic harmonica The diatonic harmonica is most likely what you think of when you think 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ----------------------------- blow: |C |E |G |C |E |G |C |E |G |C | draw: |D |G |B |D |F |A |B |D |F |A | ----------------------------- See also: Note that although there are 3 octaves between 1 and 10 blow, there is only one full major scale available on the harmonica, between holes 4 and 7. The lower holes are designed around the tonic (C major) and dominant (G major) chords, allowing a player to play these chords underneath a melody by blocking or unblocking the lower holes with the tongue. The most important notes: C-E-G, the tonic triad, is given the blow, and the secondary notes: D-G-B-F-A, the draw, though this is reversed in blues harp. In addition to the 19 notes readily available on the harmonica, The physics of bending are quite complex, but amount to this: a player can Howard Levy developed another technique in the 1970s that allows players to force a reed to vibrate faster, resulting in a higher pitch. This List of Modern Overblow Masters:
Special tuned harmonicasA number of people have made specially tuned variants of the diatonic harmonica. For example, Lee Oskar Harmonicas makes a variety of harmonicas to help players used to a "Cross-harp" style to play in other styles. Cross-harp players usually base their play around a mixolydian scale starting on 2 draw and ending a 6 blow (with a bend needed to get the second tone of the scale; a full scale can be played from 6 blow to 9 blow). Lee-Oskar special tunes harmonicas to allow players to play a natural minor, harmonic minor, and major scale from 2 draw to 6 blow. Below are some sample layouts (notice that the key labor describes the scale from 2 draw to 6 blow. Natural Minor (cross harp, 6 blow to 9 blow) / Dorian (straight harp, 4 blow to 7 blow): Harmonic Minor (straight harp, 4 blow to 7 blow)/ The "Melody Maker" is a particularly interesting evolution of the harmonica, since it allows player accustomed to playing "cross harp" (in mixolydian) to play in a major key (which is what the standard layout is designed for in the first place). Rather than providing the standard C major and G dominant chords, the Mixolydian provides a G Major 7 (2-5 draw), a C Major 6th chord (1-4 blow) and an Am or Am7 chord (3-5 or 3-6 blow), a D major chord (4-6 draw) and a C Major chord (6-10 blow). If we are in the key of G, then, the melody maker provides the I chord, the IV chord, the V chord and the II chord, allowing II-V-I progressions as well as I-IV-V progressions.
The 14 Hole Diatonic The Hohner Marine Band 365/28 14 hole harmonica is not a standard diatonic harmonica. It has 14 holes and its general dimensions are a bit bigger, so its structure is different from the normal diatonic harmonica and, in the key of C, is pitched one octave lower than the standard 10 hole C diatonic. Thus, hole 4 blow is one octave below middle C. Hole 7 blow is middle C. The Marine Band 365/28 in G is similar to a usual G diatonic, having it's higher register expanded. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 ------------------------------------------ blow: |C |E |G |C |E |G |C |E |G |C |E |G |C |E | draw: |D |G |B |D |F |A |B |D |F |A |B |D |F |A | ------------------------------------------ The chromatic harmonicaThe chromatic harmonica has a button-operated slide that allows theplayer to change the pitch of any given hole. This means that each hole has 4 pitches rather than 2. The slide typically shifts the pitch of any given note by a half step. The note layout on a chromatic is traditionally the same as the note layout on holes 4-7 of the diatonic harmonica, and is repeated over its length. Chromatic harmonicas are usually 12 or 16 holes long. Because it is a fully chromatic instrument, the chromatic harmonica is 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ------------------------------ blow: |C |E |G |C |C |E |G |C |E |G | key out draw: |d |f |a |b |d |f |a |b |d |f | ------------------------------ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ------------------------------ blow: |C#|E#|G#|C#|C#|E#|G#|C#|E#|G#| key in draw: |d#|f#|a#|b#|d#|f#|a#|b#|d#|f#| ------------------------------ Note that b# is the same as c and e# is the same as f. The bass harmonicaThe bass harmonica is a special harmonica mostly used in ensemble playing. It usually consists of two harmonicas held together, one above the other, by an adjustable bracket. the lower harmonica has the natural notes of the chromatic scale, while the upper harmonica has the accidental notes.The bass harmonica has only blow notes. See the fuller description at: www.bassharp.com. The chord harmonicaThe chord harmonica has 48 chords: major, minor, augmented and diminished for ensemble playing. It is laid out in four-note clusters, each sounding a different chord on inhaling or exhaling. Each hole has two reeds for each note, tuned to one octave of each other. This gives the harmonica a more powerful and rich sound. The Tremolo harmonica Tremolo harmonicas have two reeds per hole. The two reeds are tuned to be slightly out of tune relative to each other. This produces a tremolo effect. The Octave Harmonica Octave harmonicas have two reeds per hole. The two reeds are tuned to the same note a perfect octave apart. ec Toy harmonicas Because of its simplicity, the harmonica is often the first real musical instrument children encounter. Toy harmonicas include tiny four-hole instruments and simple plastic models of a conventional size. History and related instruments The unrelated glass harmonica is a musical instrument formed of a nested set of graduated glass cups mounted sideways on an axle and partially immersed in water, and played by touching the rotating cups with wetted fingers, causing them to vibrate. Harmonica community There is an active harmonica community on the internet and in real Some famous harmonicistsHarmonica bandsHarmonica ensemblesBlues playersFolkRock and rollRhythm and bluesCountry musicIrish musicJazz
|
|
|
This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. |
|
| © 2008 Chamas Enterprises Inc. |
