technique of harmonica playing
Harmonica is a wind instrument. It is played by mouth. The harmonica is held by the hand with 2 hands and played by blowing air from the mouth. With a little air pressure, one can play harmonica. Soft blowing the instrument gives rise to a sweet sound. Being a wind instrument, you can play it any time and any where. It is small and portable. It can be carried in a pocket. It has a bellow. Sophisticated harmonicas have scale change facility. One can play it in different scales, e.g. C, D, etc. scales.
From my childhood, I loved to play musical instruments. I have a harmonica and a synthesizer. I learnt the harmonica for quite some time. I often play it in my leisure. I learnt the tactics of playing it.
In a harmonica, there are holes. The playing of harmonica involves drawing and blowing the instrument. I learnt it in the regional way, i.e. sa, re, ga, ma, pa, da, ni sa. The seven holes are named in this way. It is an octave. It is similar to a piano. The holes can be named in the English way as follows and one hole is blown, then the other next to that is drawn and the last two are blown.
It can be shows as follows:
C------- blow
D------- draw
E--------blow
F-------draw
G-------blow
A--------draw
B--------blow
C-------blow
The sound of harmonica is so sweet and nice that it gives the player the ultimate satisfaction. As one goes on playing the instrument, after 15 minutes or half an hour, one has to take some rest as the air is forced from the lungs to play the little instrument!!
One has to apply cream to the lips. The lips become dry and take some water and rest at regular intervals of 15 minutes or one hour.
It is always advisable not to share a mouth organ. A harmonica player’s saliva from mouth might cause infection to others. One’s disease might be transmitted to others through saliva.
Insertion of chords in harmonica: When we play a piano, we use our left hand to accompany or enrich the right hand tunes. Similarly in a harmonica we are using our hands and tongue to create a chord.
Importance of tongue for a harmonica player is immense! Folding the tongue like a pipe inside a mouth, if one blows or draws the desired holes, one can create a nice tune. With the hand, frequently bellowing, it causes the sound to vibrate. Vibration of sound creates a wonderful effect to the player and also to the listener.
Vibration of tune is done with the left hand. One has to hold the instrument with the right hand and use his left hand covering the instrument in such a way at the opposite side that the sound gets obstructed. Now by moving the hand similar to a birds flapping of wings, one creates a vibration of the sound emitted by the mouth organ.
Using the bellow with the right hand creates the effect of chord in a mouth organ. The tune gets the effect of sharp and flat as we all see in a musical instrument. The effect of sharp and flat increases the depth of music to a greater degree. One can use it to play the instrument in different scales.
Mouth organ should not be played loudly. It might cause strain in the player’s lungs. So it is always advisable to play the musical instrument softly. One can play the synthesizer loudly by increasing the volume but it is not possible to play too loudly. After all, the air blown from the lungs is the expiratory reserve volume that comes out with forceful inspiration. When a player plays a harmonica, he rapidly breathes to take air to breathe. His rate of pulse increases along with the heart rate.
The tunes played in the harmonica or mouth organ must be POPULAR!! It must have a social acceptability. Tunes which people have heard and love to listen to them. If someone plays among the friends circle, he gets famous as it makes the listener feel good. Unlike any other instrument, the listener gets involved in the popular music played by the harmonica player. The sweet sound mesmerizes the audience.
With a harmonica, one can publish music records of popular tunes. If people buy them regularly, then he will have a reputation in the music market. Then the person will get offers from musical recording companies.
Harmonica being a little instrument can be carried anywhere. One can carry it in a vacation trip and pass the time playing it. One can play it in college and university festivals. One can teach harmonica and earn well.
Harmonica is an instrument that impresses the young and the old audiences. The player gets satisfaction. A musical instrument is a great reliever of stress. It cools the mind. It calms the soul. It makes someone feel good and happy!! After a hard work in office, if someone take some time playing this beautiful instrument, his life gets filled with joy.