Doing No Harm With The Harmonica

Lon said:
I have played harmonicas since I was seven years old and became quite proficient up to the time of loosing my hearing. I could do it all----pop,jazz,classical. I performed Malaguena < Peg o My Heart etc. before audiences. I am hoping that once I have my Cochlear Implant I will be able to play again somewhat.
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I wish you luck on your surgery! Music is so important, and few people can create good music...remember that as you are recovering!
 
When I'm driving, around 80% of my listening is to the Blues Channel on satellite radio. The harmonica is common to the blues in a way that it is not in other genre. When there's a harmonica, I really pay attention. Sometimes it just lends a hand to the other instruments, and sometimes it dominates. It's such an unusual instrument, and playing one takes some practice. I admire those to have mastered it.
 
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This looks like a "normal" harmonica. How does he do it?


I asked Google...

What kind of harmonica does Buddy Greene use?

Buddy Greene Official Website | HARMONICA


I use and endorse Hohner harmonicas. The diatonic models I use include: Golden Melody, Marine Band, and Meisterklasse, and one Special 20 that's been factory tuned to a D harmonic minor (used on "Bubba, The Wandering Gypsy", Harmonica Anthology).
 
Physics, phonetics, and physiology of the diatonic harmonica
October 01 1999

"The harmonica is arguably the most widely played instrument in the world, yet there is a surprising scarcity of published studies of its acoustics or physical dynamics. The typical diatonic harmonica and the kinematics of its free reeds are described. The vibration of the reeds, naturally, when producing a bend, and when speaking as an overblow or overdraw is discussed and investigated by simple stopping of the reeds, by videostroboscopic analysis, and by high‐fidelity displacement measurements. The reeds of the ten‐hole harmonica can be made to vibrate at varying frequencies depending on the size and morphometry of the players vocal tract. Three different modes of speaking from each hole and its pair of reeds are revealed and studied: first, naturally in a closing mode, either blown or drawn; second, as a bend, either blown or drawn, with pitch in the interval between the two notes in the hole; and third, as an overblow or overdraw in an opening mode with a pitch outside the interval between the two natural notes of the hole. This dynamic interaction allows the player to speak with the instrument perhaps as with no other."
 
Time Bends in the Distance (But my Trip is to Beyond) -- harmonica, guitar vocals by Paul Hall (1987)
(Full Screen, Volume UP!) FAR OUT!
 

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