Harmonica (47078)

A harmonica is a free reed musical wind instrument. It has multiple, variably-tuned brass or bronze reeds, each secured at one end over an airway slot of like dimension into which it can freely vibrate. Doing so interrupts an airstream repeatedly to produce sound. more...

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Unlike most free reed instruments (such as reed organs, accordions and melodicas), the harmonica lacks a keyboard. Instead, the player selects the notes by placement of his or her mouth over the proper airways, usually made up of discrete holes in the front of the instrument. Each hole communicates with one or more reeds, depending on the type of harmonica. Because a reed mounted above a slot is made to vibrate more easily by air from above, reeds accessed by a mouthpiece hole often may be selected further by choice of breath direction (blowing, drawing). Some harmonicas, primarily chromatic harmonica, also include a spring-loaded button-actuated slide that, when depressed, redirects the airflow.

The harmonica is commonly used in blues and folk music, but also in jazz, classical music, country music, rock and roll and pop music. Increasingly, the harmonica is finding its place in more electronically generated music, such as dance and hip-hop, as well as funk and acid jazz.

The harmonica is also known as a mouth organ, mouth harp, Hobo Harp, French harp, harpoon, tin sandwich, blues harp, Mississippi saxophone, or simply harp.

Parts of the harmonica

The basic parts of the harmonica are the comb, reed-plates and cover-plates.

Comb

The comb is the term for the main body of the instrument. Combs were traditionally made of wood, but plastic (ABS) and metal combs are more common nowadays. The comb contains the air chambers which cover the reeds — the name "comb" comes from the fact that in simple harmonicas it does indeed resemble a hair comb. In some designs, however, the comb is in fact very complex in arranging how the air is directed, particularly in more modern and experimental designs.

There is much debate about whether the comb's material has an effect on the tone of the harmonica or not. While this has traditionally been the assumption, several recent attempts at blind testing have not been able to show that people can hear a difference when comb material is the only variable, and the main advantage one comb material truly have over another one is usually its durability. In particular, a wooden comb can absorb moisture from the player's breath and contact with the tongue, causing the comb to expand slightly, making the instrument uncomfortable to play. Conversely, some players used to deliberately soak their wooden-combed hamonicas to cause a slight expansion which was intended to make the seal between the comb, reed plates and covers more airtight. More modern wooden-combed harmonicas however, are less prone to swelling and contracting.

Read more at Wikipedia.org