Harmonica: History, Anatomy and
Playing
Peter R. Egbert MD
Professor of Ophthalmology, Emeritus
Department Chair, Emeritus
Stanford University
• I have no conflict of interest or financial
disclosures for this presentation
History
• Many instruments have been called “harmonica” or
“mouth organ”, before the advent of the modern
harmonica.
• 3000 BC: Free-reed instruments were used in China and
Asia (e.g. the sheng)
• 1800’s: Modern diatonic harmonicas appeared .
– 1821 Christian Buschman pitchpipe converted to instrument.
– 1825-26 Richter 20 reeds in 10 holes ”mundharmonika”.
– 1857 Matthias Hohner, a clock maker in Trossingen, Germany,
began manufacturing harmonicas full time.
Hohner Harmonica Company
Trossigen, Germany
• 1862-- first to export to North America
• 1890-- 1,000,000/year
• 1907-- 7,000,000 annually; 887,000 reeds
from 15 tons of brass each day.
– Many different models
• Today many competitors
– Lee Oscar, Seydel, Huang, etc.
Most popular musical instrument?
• “The only thing rarer than a person who
has never owned a harmonica is a person
who does it justice.”
• “You cannot be everywhere
unless you can go everywhere.”
– Portable, sturdy
• “An accordion with soul.”
– Draw and blow notes
– Breathe and play
Soul
• Pocket Full of Soul
• Grass Valley (CA) showing 2/28
https://www.tugg.com/go/36unaq
Two main classes of harmonicas
• 10 hole diatonic
– Expressive
– Not all notes available
– Blues
• Chromatic
– All notes available
– Jazz, classical
Anatomy of a harmonica
Reed plate and reeds
Cross section of air chamber and reeds
Bahnson HT et al. J Am Soc Acoustics.1998:103(4) 2134 -2144
Standard tuning
The 10 hole diatonic
harmonica is a transposing
instrument with various
keys.
Note that the chord
degrees are the same on all
the harmonicas.
Two main embouchures
• Tongue block
– The lips cover up to 4 holes.
– The tongue blocks all but the right hole (see
MRI).
• Pucker or lip block.
– The lips cover all but one hole.
Tongue block embouchure
L
T
OC
Playing your harmonica
1. Chords
2. Single note
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Tongue blocking
Lip blocking or puckering
Slaps and pulls
Octaves
Vibrato
Hand effects
Pitch bending
Standard tuning
Cross section of air chamber and reeds
Bahnson HT et al. J Am Soc Acoustics.1998:103(4) 2134 -2144
2 hole draw bend
Start on G
End on about F sharp
Blow reed
displaceme
nt
Draw reed
displacement
Bahnson HT et al. J
Am Soc
Acoustics.1998:103(
4) 2134 -2144
Anatomy of
the Vocal
Tract
3 hole draw note, no bend
HP
NC
OC
SP
OPh
Tongue
M
E
HPh
VF
Tr
CV
3 hole draw note, minor
third bend
10cm
MRI Harmonica study group
• Thomas Rossing, Professor of Music,
CCRMA
• David Barrett, Professional Harmonica
player and teacher. Bluesharmonica.com
• Lewis Shin MD, Alex Holbrook PhD,
Stanford Dept. of Radiology