History of the harmonica. Harmonica (harmonica): history, video, interesting facts

Harmonica (harmonica)

The rich world of musical instruments is very diverse. What kind of representatives you will not meet in this kingdom. There are so many of them that it is simply impossible to list. Indeed, in addition to the world-renowned ones, each nation has its own musical instruments, which are national symbols and reflect the identity of a particular culture. Musical instruments differ in the way of sound production, timbre coloring and size. The largest and most important, of course, is the organ, which is called His Majesty. It is so huge that it is installed only in large halls. But among musical instruments, there is one that looks more like a child's toy and can easily fit in your pocket. The name of this instrument is harmonica or harmonica. It is compact, simple, but at the same time very elegant. Despite its small size, this funny instrument is absolutely complete and has an interesting and attractive sound.

From the very beginning of its amazing history, it has interested performers and still continues to delight people in different parts of our planet.

The peculiar sound of the harmonica makes it a member of many ensembles playing in various styles and genres. She is not the main musical instrument, but her melodic inserts make musical compositions more interesting and vivid.

Read the history of the harmonica and many interesting facts about this musical instrument on our page.

Sound

The harmonica, which belongs to wind reed musical instruments, has a thick and rich sound, which occurs under the pressure of an air jet that makes the sound reeds vibrate. The harmonica does not have a keyboard; lips and tongue are used to select the appropriate hole for the desired note. The performance requires a certain skill of skill, the beautiful bright sound of the instrument largely depends on the skill of the musician. For example, for the performance of any melody on the harmonica, which has a diatonic system, it is required to master a difficult playing technique, which is called a bend.

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Interesting Facts

• In different countries, the harmonica has similar names, which include the words lips, mouth or harmonica. In Russia - harmonica, in France - "harmonica a bouche", in Germany - "Mundharmonika", in England - "mouth organ", "harmonica", "harp" or "French harp", in Italy - "armonica a bocca ”, in Spain - “armonica”.
• A harmonica performer is called a harper.
• In the United States, the harmonica has hilarious nicknames: the pocket piano, the Mississippi saxophone, the blues harp, the carefree streetcar, the pewter sandwich.
• In cinema, the harmonica was first seen at the end of 19th century.
• The first sound recording of a harmonica performance was made in 1920.
• Hohner, the first harmonica manufacturer, was founded in 1857. At the present time, she makes about 100 different versions of this instrument. Hohner's harmonicas are very much in demand among performers today; at a fairly low price, they have excellent quality and beautiful sound.
• In the 1930s, when Hitler came to power in Germany, the Hohner firm received a large order for the supply of harmonicas for the German army, at the rate of an instrument for each soldier.

• During the 1st World War, the harmonica brightened up the rest of the soldiers of the opposite sides. Suppliers supplied tools to both the British and German armies.
• In the German city of Trossingen, under the auspices of the Hohner company, world harmonica festivals are held, which are of interest not only to performers, but also to admirers of the instrument.
• The 16th American President Abraham Lincoln, who was fond of playing the harmonica, loved his instrument so much that he constantly carried it in his pocket. Also on the list of presidents who were not indifferent to the harmonica were Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan.
• During the Second World War, due to the shortage of wood and metal that went to the needs of the front, the worker-entrepreneur Haakon Magnus developed a plastic harmonica. It did not have a beautiful sound, but later became a very popular children's toy.
• The largest harmonica ensemble, which got into the Guinness Book of Records, included 6131 performers. He performed in Hong Kong in November 2009, performing a musical composition with a string orchestra for 7 minutes.

• In the United States, the harmonica is so loved that in 1925 the Christmas tree in the White House in Washington was decorated with 50 instruments.
• At one time, a significant contribution to the growing popularity of the harmonica was made by a radio broadcast from New York called "Hohner's Harmonica Hour", which was intended to teach listeners how to play this instrument.
• The fastest harmonica player listed in the Guinness Book of Records is Nicky Shane from Santa Barbara (USA). In 20 seconds, he managed to play 103 notes.
• Harmonica, the first musical instrument to travel in space. On December 16, 1965, American astronaut Wally Schirra performed the famous Christmas song "Jingle Bells" on the harmonica in space orbit.
• The harmonica is the best-selling musical instrument. By 1887 Hohner was producing 1 million harmonicas annually. In 1911 - 8 million a year, in 1986 she produced her billionth instrument.

Design

The design of the harmonica is quite simple. The case consists of a top and bottom cover, which are made of wood, molded plastic, lucite or metal alloys. Under the top cover is a plate with slots and tongues for exhalation. Next is the so-called comb with slots. Under the comb is another plate, but with tongues for inhalation. Everything is closed with a bottom cover. The whole structure is fastened with small screws.

Varieties

There are quite a few varieties of harmonicas, but they are all divided into two types that differ significantly from each other: diatonic and chromatic.

The diatonic harmonica has several subspecies that have a diatonic structure and are made with tuning in different keys.

• Blues - the most popular, although it has such a name on it, you can play music in various styles. Usually has 10 holes.
• Tremolo - the harmonica is tuned during production so that when the sound is extracted, a tremolo effect is created.
• Octave - its peculiarity is that the reeds that should sound at the same time are tuned into an octave. This gives the instrument greater sound saturation and bright timbre color.
• Bass harmonica - bass notes are played on it.
• Chord - with each exhalation or inhalation, not one note, but a whole chord sounds.

The chromatic harmonica has an appropriate tuning, which, as a result, in comparison with the diatonic instrument, gives it wider repertoire possibilities. It is larger in size, since its body actually contains two harmonics. On the side of such a tool there is a button - a switch - a slider, switching of which makes it possible to extract halftones. Used in jazz and classical music.

Application and repertoire

Since the beginning of its existence, the harmonica has been used in a wide variety of musical genres. At the present time, it is rightly called a universal instrument, the sound of which adorns compositions in many musical styles, but mainly in those whose homeland is the American continent. Classical music, jazz, country, bluegrass, chord rock, folk rock, pop, hillbilly, rockabilly, reggae, ethnic music and, of course, blues - this is an incomplete list of areas in music where the harmonica has found a worthy application.

It should be noted that since the appearance of the chromatic harmonica, the capabilities of the instrument have expanded significantly, and arrangements of works by classical music composers have appeared in its repertoire. Among the authors who composed specifically for the harmonica, special mention should be made of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Malcolm Arnold, Darius Milhaud, Arthur Benjamin and Jimi Reed.

Performers

The harmonica is an instrument whose popularity has grown very rapidly since its inception, constantly
attracted the attention of talented musicians. In various musical directions, performers appeared who left a noticeable mark on the art of playing the instrument.

• Classic Blues: S.B. Williamson II, H. Wolfe, B.W. Horton, D. Wells, D. Cotton, L. Walter, W. Clark.
• Country blues: D. Bailey, S. Terry, M. Vladimirov, A. Yakhimovich.
• Folk Rock: Bob Dylan.
• Modern blues: D. Mayall, J. Milto, D. Portnoy, S. Blue, C. Musselwhite, K. Wilson, S. Harpo, A. Gassow, D. Ricci, K. Gianco, R. Piazza, W. Clark , S. Chigrakov
• Rock / Hard Rock: D. Popper, B. Springsteen, I. Gillan, M. Dick, M. Jagger, S. Tyler, R. E. Plant, T. Lindemann, V. Shakhrin, V. Kuzmin, A. Stepanenko, B. Grebenshchikov.
• Jazz: H. Levy, F. Yonnet, I. Prenet.
• Irish Folk: B. Power.
• Country: C. McCoy.
• Klezmer: D. Rosenblatt.

The harmonica can be described as a compact pocket musical instrument that brings joy to millions of people around the world. At its core, the harmonica is a Western-style wind organ. Since its invention by Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann in 1821, the popularity of this instrument has steadily grown. And after the appearance of the Hohner chromatic harmonica, the repertoire that could be played on such instruments expanded significantly. True, not all fans of the harmonica know that the direct ancestor of their favorite instrument, as, indeed, of all other European reed instruments, is the oriental wind organ.

Western and eastern wind organs are classified as reed instruments. However, if we open the World Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments, we learn that the reeds are only one of the branches of a vast family that are united under the common name “aerophones”.

The main feature that determines belonging to this group is the vibration of the air stream inside the case, as a result of which a musical sound is born. This group includes instruments with holes (recorder flutes), with whistle-type mouthpieces (recorders), with a single reed (clarinets, saxophones), with a double reed (oboe, bassoon), with bowl-shaped mouthpieces (pipes), as well as manual reeds. (Eastern and Western wind organs, concertinas, accordions and accordions).

For the first time, an oriental wind organ came to Europe from China in the middle of the 18th century. This instrument consisted of 17 bamboo pipes of various sizes with copper reeds inside, which were attached in a circle to a metal case with a mouthpiece. After studying it, the idea arose to use reeds in the construction of traditional organs. Unfortunately, such experiments did not receive the approval of the general public, and most organ makers abandoned such constructive solutions in relation to keyboard instruments.

One way or another, reeds were used in the manufacture of a Western pipe organ only in the 19th century. The first harmonica was created by German watchmaker Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann in 1821. The invention, called "aura", was a metal plate with 15 slots, which were closed with corresponding steel tongues. According to the author's idea, his brainchild was more like a tuning fork, and not a musical instrument. The notes in it were arranged in chromatic order and were extracted only with the help of exhalation.

In 1825, another German, F. Hotz, began the production of wind organs at his factory in Knittlingen. Another native of Germany, Christian Messner, purchased several of the “auras” made by Buschmann and in 1827 began to make instruments similar to them. He called his products the strange word "mundeolin". Two years later, the Englishman Sir Charles Wheatstone patented his model of a pipe organ. In his design, the reeds were controlled by a small push-button keyboard, which the author himself called the “symphonium”.

But the author of the most important design solution for that period of time was a master from Bohemia named Richter. Around 1826, he made an example harmonica with ten holes and twenty reeds (separate for inhalation and exhalation) mounted in a cedar wood body. The tuning option proposed by Richter using the diatonic scale became the standard for European instruments, which were called “Mundharmonika” or wind organ.

In 1829, I. V. Glier organized the production of wind organs at his factory in the German city of Klingenthal. In 1855 another German, Christian Weisse, did the same. However, by 1857 the Trossingen firm had become the largest mass-producer of harmonicas. At that time, it was led by the famous Matthias Hohner. In 1857 alone, with the help of his family members and one hired worker, he managed to produce 650 instruments. Honer was an outstanding businessman. One of his marketing finds was an overlay with the name of the manufacturer. In 1862 Hohner brought the harmonica to North America. It was a step that later led his firm to become world leader in the manufacture of these instruments. By 1879 Hohner was making 700,000 instruments a year. At the turn of the century, the annual output was already 5 million units. Now the company produces more than 90 different models of harmonicas, which allow the performer to express himself freely in any musical form, whether it be classical, jazz, blues, rock or ethnic music. There are statistics that 40 million people play this instrument in the USA, and another 5 million in Canada.

It must be said that the harmonica or wind organ has a different name in different languages. In German it is called "Mundharmonika", in French - "harmonica a bouche", in Italian - "armonica a bocca", in Spanish "armonica", in English - "harmonica", "mouth organ", " French harp” or “harp”.

They say that the harmonica owes its name to a completely different instrument. In 1829 the Viennese master Demian received exclusive rights to manufacture accordions. Naturally, other masters also produced similar instruments, but under a different name, namely “handharmonika” (hand harmonica). Due to the similar principle of operation, the wind organ began to be called “mundharmonika” (harmonica).

Even world wars could not prevent the rapid spread of the accordion around the world. German manufacturers produced special export models for various countries: “1'Epatant” and “La Marseillaise” for France, “King George” and “Alliance Harp” for England, “El Centenario” for Mexico and even harmonicas on chains, for those ethnic groups whose clothes had no pockets. During the 1st World War, various organizations supplied German and British soldiers with harmonicas. There was even such a model "Kaiser Wilhelm".

The first recordings of the harmonica were made in the United States in the early 1920s, although this instrument was recorded on film in silent films as early as 1894. In the 1930s, the Great Depression and, in the 1940s, the 2nd World War contributed to the resettlement of southerners in the northern states and on the west coast. This process stimulated the spread of a small tool throughout the vast territory of the United States. Then Jazz Gillum and John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson were very popular among the black inhabitants of Chicago. At the same time, on the other side of the world in Nuremberg, Larry Adler played for the soldiers of the Allied armies in the anti-Hitler coalition. To find the Hohner factory, he flew in a small plane, with only a picture from a box that showed this building as a guide!

Everywhere soldiers returned to their homes. There was an upsurge in the Negro ghettos, which was naturally reflected in the music. Young musicians from the south (Little Walter, Junior Wells, Snooki Pryor) now played the harmonica through a microphone and amplifier. It was something new - the “Mississippi saxophone” (as the harmonica was called in American slang) could now be the soloist to the accompaniment of the orchestra. In the 50s, rock and roll broke the patriarchal silence of the then music scene. Harmonica was at the forefront of this youth rebellion, which took inspiration from black American blues.

This instrument experienced another birth in a new musical style, and to this day retains its popularity among performers of different ages and musical styles.

The history of the creation of each musical instrument is interesting and amazing. Sometimes the various facts of the creation of an instrument make us interested in its history. In addition, each musician is simply obliged to get acquainted in detail not only with the structure, but also with the history of the instrument he plays.

The harmonica is truly an amazing instrument. Now you can learn how to play the harmonica yourself using a self-instruction manual or using materials on the Internet. Despite its name, the harmonica is a wind instrument along with trumpets, saxophones, flutes and others. The forefather of wind instruments can be considered the oriental wind organ. At one time it was classified as a reed instrument. But the word "brass" arose relatively recently. The name is connected with the functioning of the instrument: to make a sound, air (“spirit”) passes inside.

Spirit organs came to us from China. In the 18th century, English colonists brought with them an amazing tool that consisted of bamboo with metal parts. The wooden tube contained reeds that were attached to the mouthpiece. By the way, such musical technology was later adopted by master organists, but it took root only in the 19th century.

The first harmonica saw the light only in 1821. Her father was Christian F. L. Bushman. It is noteworthy that he was not a master of instruments and not even a musician, but a master of watch movements. His invention only remotely resembled the modern harmonica. Initially, the instrument was called "aura". It was a steel plate with 15 holes, which were closed with metal tongues.

After some time, Bushman's invention was taken over by several musical instrument companies: Hotz in Knittling and Christine Messner. The latter changed the instrument a little and gave it the name "mundeolina", it sounded original and fresh.

The modern version of the harmonica was created by the musical master Richter from Bohemia. He made only 10 slots in the wooden case, but increased the number of reeds to 20. Thus, it was possible to play on inhalation and exhalation. The tuning system created by Richter for the harmonica is still considered the standard.

Mattias Hohner took up the industrial production of harmonicas. Hohner soon became surprisingly fast at conquering the music market, with only one worker in his workshop and the help of his family. Honer became famous all over the world not only as a master, but also as one of the first musical businessmen. In 1900, his company produced five million harmonicas, which were sold all over the world. Now the Hohner company produces about 90 types of harmonicas.

The harmonica is not only a musical instrument. It can be called a real cinema of the first half of the last century. After World War II, it became the musical instrument of the Negro ghettos.

The harmonica is a small, versatile instrument that most of the peoples of the world play almost any kind of music. Although at first glance it may seem difficult to learn how to play the harmonica, the harmonica is actually an easy and fun instrument to learn to play. Read the steps below to learn how to play the harmonica.

Steps

Getting Started

Choose a harmonium. There are many different types of harmonicas available for purchase that vary in use and price. Today, you can buy a diatonic or chromatic harmonica. Either type can be used to play the most popular music such as blues or folk.

• Diatonic harmonicas are the most common and affordable type, and, of course, the cheapest. It is tuned to a specific key that cannot be changed. Most diatonic harmonicas are tuned to the key of C. Types of diatonic harmonica include “blues harmonica”, “tremolo harmonica”, and “octave harmonica.”
  • The blues harmonica is common in the west, while the tremolo harmonica is more common in East Asia.
• The chromatic harmonica is a type of harmonica that uses a mechanical apparatus that controls which holes make the sound. Basic 10-note chromatic harmonicas can only play one full note (just like a diatonic harmonica), but 12-16-hole chromatic harmonicas can be tuned to any key. Chromatics are significantly more expensive than most diatonic harmonicas; a quality chromatic accordion from a well-known brand can cost several hundred dollars.
  • Due to its tunability, the 12-note chromatic harmonica is generally preferred for jazz music.
• The common abbreviated term for the harmonica is "harmonica". This name comes from other traditional names, including "French harmonica" and "blues harmonica". As long as the context is clear, the words harmonica and harmonica can be used interchangeably.

Learn about the harmonica. The harmonica is a reed musical instrument that uses brass reeds. The reeds are used to create tone when you blow or blow air through the holes. The reeds are mounted on a plate called a reed plate, which is usually made of brass. The part of the harmonica where the reed plate is installed is called the comb, and is usually made of plastic or metal. The harmonica's mouthpiece can be built into the comb, or, as with chromatic harmonicas, screwed on separately. The protective panels for the rest of the apparatus can be made of wood, metal or plastic.

• The guide rail of the chromatic harmonica is also made of metal.
• Depending on whether you inhale or exhale into the harmonica, different notes are produced by the reeds. A typical diatonic harp is tuned to C (C major) on the exhale, and to G (G major) on the inhale. They complement each other perfectly and there is no need to add extra holes.
• The reeds inside the harmonica are thin and wear out over time. Light play and regular maintenance will keep a good sound for as long as possible.

world of the harmonica

In English, the name of the harmonica can sound like harmonica, or harp. From the latter version came the nickname of the musician playing this instrument - harper.

Where did it come from, who invented it? To answer these questions, you have to delve a little into history.

Where did it come from...

The harmonica became known not so long ago. Its history, of course, cannot be compared with stories more than ancient or the same. Nevertheless, the harmonica has something in common with the flute: they both belong to the same family of wind reed instruments.

Unlike most musical instruments, the harmonica has an almost exact date of creation. It was patented in 1821 by the 16-year-old German H.F.L. Bushman, watchmaker. Of course, then it had a look that was clearly different from the modern appearance of this instrument: a metal plate with fifteen holes covered with steel tongues. The sound was extracted only on exhalation, and, as in our times, its volume and purity depended solely on the skill of the master.

This is what the first accordion looked like

The design of the first harmonica was not perfect. Many understood this, tried to make changes. Again, a German went further than anyone, a certain Richter from Bohemia. Already in 1826, he offered the musicians his version of the instrument. There were already 10 holes, and 20 reeds, that is, two for each: one of the reeds was responsible for extracting sound on inhalation, the other on exhalation. The scheme proposed by Richter with a diatonic scale turned out to be so good and convenient that it exists to this day.

Already in the middle of the 19th century, mass production of harmonicas began, and M. Hohner became the first among its manufacturers. Founded by him in 1857, the company, named after the creator, quickly conquered the market. Including due to the fact that Hohner relied not only on Europe. In the early 60s of the same century, he brought his harmonicas to America, and this was the most correct step. Since then, the German company Hohner has been the world leader in the production of these particular musical instruments. However, their assortment does not end there, it includes accordions, recorders, and guitars. But it all started with an ordinary harmonica!

Now you can even meet this: an accordion and a flash drive - two in one

Harmonic device

Inside the instrument there are two plates with tongues, one of which works on inhalation, and the other on exhalation. That is, the sound actually occurs when the tongue located opposite the hole into which you inhale (or, conversely, from which you "take" air) breaks the air stream.

Since the harmonica is a very small instrument in itself, no acoustic resonator, as, for example, in a guitar, would simply fit there. Therefore, the power of sound depends primarily (and only) on the musician himself, on the position of his hands, the development of the lungs and the degree of skill.

Harmonicas are made of wood, plastic or metal. The tree, as it should be, requires more careful care, is more sensitive to the weather and is more capricious about other everyday troubles.

Harmonicas, among other things, also differ in tone. The most common type of instrument is in the key of C major. Among the "Chinese" such harmonicas are the majority. Firms from Japan and Germany bring more diversity: harps in G major are often found, and also - less often - in other keys.

Varieties

What are harmonics? If it is quite simple, without rare professional instruments, then they are divided into diatonic and chromatic.

Diatonic (bottom) and chromatic harmonicas

Diatonic ones allow the musician to "by default" extract only the main notes from the instrument - C, D, E, etc. Chromatic ones make it possible to play the entire chromatic scale as a whole, using semitones (C-sharp, D-sharp, etc.). If we draw an analogy with the piano, then diatonic is playing only with white keys, and chromatic is also with black keys.

Of course, once you have mastered the diatonic harmonica, all the special tricks - bend, overblow, overdraw and others, it will not be difficult for you to extract the sounds of "black keys" from the instrument. But all this takes time.

You can already distinguish accordions by sight. The main difference is that the chromatic has a slider on the side, a special button that allows you to raise the note by half a tone.

True, there are exceptions! For example, Tombo Chromatic Single S50. No slider, but chromatic. Halftones are extracted from the second row of holes.

As for the holes, the diatonic harmonica has the same number of holes - 10. But for the chromatic instrument, this position can change. Of course, basically it is from 12 to 16 holes, but there can be more or less - both 8 and 22. And even 10, as in diatonic. The more of them, the wider the range of notes you can use when playing.

And, of course, a chromatic harmonica will be larger than a diatonic one. The number of holes does the trick.

I’ll warn you right away: it’s more difficult to learn how to play chromatic. Maybe that's why it's less common. Store shelves often have a decent selection of diatonic instruments and a much smaller selection of chromatic instruments. And by the way, the price also varies quite a lot, but more on that below.

In addition to the main division, there is also a finer division into subspecies.

So, the diatonic harmonica is blues, octave and tremolo.

Blues - the most famous. 10 holes, the sound is extracted on inhalation and exhalation. It can also become chromatic for you, if, as mentioned above, you master all the tricks of playing it perfectly.

Hohner Blues Harp, blues (price about 1000 rubles)

Tremolo is great for playing folk songs. If you look inside such an accordion, you can find two sound plates at once. They are slightly out of tune in relation to each other, while sounding at the same time. From this combination, the tremolo effect is obtained, in fact, which gave the name to the instrument.

Hohner Tremolo Soloist CG (price about 2300 rubles)

An octave harmonica differs from a tremolo only in that its two sound plates are not out of tune with respect to each other, but, on the contrary, are tuned "in an octave". They also make sound together, and because of such structural features, the music is louder and somewhat more specific than others.

There are, of course, also orchestral harmonicas (bass, chord), but they are so rare and narrowly professional that they are purchased only for playing in ensembles, when this is the main work. I think that in this case, the person himself, without this article, knows what he needs.

What are you going to play

The choice of a harmonica to a large extent depends on what kind of music you are going to mainly play on it. Different compositions require a certain arrangement of notes, the most convenient for your chosen style.

For example, if you want to play jazz or classical pieces in general, choose a chromatic harmonica. Blues is already diatonic, and, accordingly, blues. For simpler melodies, with a peculiar sound in the style of Russian-folk and dance-round dances, a tremolo is suitable. The octave and other orchestral ones are already very much for an amateur or for an actively performing professional.

What to buy anyway?

The first question for a beginner who is about to get serious about playing the harmonica is "Which instrument should I buy?"

If you are going to study with a teacher, then it all depends on the preferences of the teacher.

By the way, for a professional, the question is "what should I take - chromatic or diatonic?" sounds the same as for any other musician - someone's problem of choosing between a guitar and a saxophone. Simply, both chromatic and diatonic harmonicas, despite all the external similarity, are still different instruments in terms of the complexity of mastering, sound production techniques, etc.

But back to specific models. If you look in the direction of diatonic, then the most popular choice is Hohner Blues Harp (cost about 1000 rubles), Hohner Special 20 (about 930 rubles), Suzuki ProMaster (price around 2000 rubles), Lee Oscar Major Diatonic (you can found for 1200 rubles), Seydel 1847 (already somewhere around 3000 rubles).

Suzuki ProMaster

Chromaticity is not so easy. First, you should immediately decide on a tool with how many holes you need. As mentioned above, the more of them, the richer the scale (that is, more notes can be extracted from the instrument).

Nevertheless, among them you can find the most popular models among beginners. Perhaps, first of all, these are Hohner Chromonika 40 (somewhere around 3,700 rubles), Tombo Uni Chromatic (cost about 3,800 rubles), Hohner Super 64 X (already about 10,000 rubles).

Tombo Uni Chromatic Gold 1248

Buying Tips

Quite a decent instrument (from a number of diatonic ones) can be bought already in the region of $20. In stores, of course, they offer harmonicas starting from 300 rubles, but still it is better to focus on the average price threshold.

At the same time, keep in mind that the chromatic harmonica will cost several times more. Just a good tool starts from 3-4 thousand rubles, a very good one can cost about 35,000 rubles.

Hohner Amadeus Chromatik Harmonika (cost about $1500)

It is better to buy in the company of a person who understands harmonics. And if you still came to the store alone, do not be shy of sellers - try for yourself how the model you like sounds.

In most Russian cities, you can hardly get anything other than Hohner. If your soul yearned for something else, then welcome to the world of the Internet. Still, it will most likely come out cheaper than going to another city yourself.

In the end, no one bothers you later to buy a couple more representatives of your favorite instrument and then play the harmonica, the sound of which you like more. Most models are not prohibitive, this instrument is still easier to manufacture than, for example, a synthesizer.

In general, it all depends on the skill. A beginner on an expensive harp is unlikely to be able to beat the pros on a cheap harmonica, right? Another thing is that in skillful hands a good tool can work wonders.

By the way, a harmonica is a great gift for a child. Now they are being produced by a great variety of children's - colored, with some kind of drawings, popular characters from cartoons.

It is both interesting and exciting, and at the same time educational. Maybe in this way your son or daughter will join the music, maybe later it will become their profession. Moreover, it is not at all necessary that the further choice will fall on the harmonica.

But who knows - what if a new Stevie Wonder is growing next to you?