History of the Harmonica

The harmonica first appeared in Vienna, where harmonicas with chambers were sold before 1824.

In Germany, Mr. Meisel of Geschichte des Akkordeonbaus in Klingenthal, Schwarzmeisel and Langhammer, bought a harmonica with chambers (Kanzellen) at the Exhibition in Braunschweig in 1824. He and Langhammer in Graslitz copied the instruments; by 1827 they had produced hundreds of harmonicas. Many others followed in Germany and also nearby in what would later become Czechoslovakia. In 1829, Johann Wilhelm Rudolph Glier, also began making harmonicas. In 1830, Christan Messner, a cloth maker and weaver from Trossingen, copied a harmonica his neighbour had brought from Vienna. He had such success that eventually his brother and some relatives also started to make harmonicas. From 1840 onwards, his nephew Christian Weiss was also involved in the business. By 1855, there were at least three registered harmonica-making businesses in existence: C. A. Seydel Söhne, Christian Messner & Co., and Württ. Harmonikafabrik Ch. WEISS. Currently, only C.A. Seydel is still in business.

Owing to competition between the harmonica factories in Trossingen and Klingenthal, machines were invented to punch the covers for the reeds. In 1857, Matthias Hohner, a clockmaker from Trossingen, started producing harmonicas, eventually to become the first person to mass-produce them. He was the first to order the wooden comb that goes in the center of the instrument from other firms which machine-cut the parts. By 1868, he could deliver his first orders to the United States.

By the 1920s, the diatonic harmonica had largely reached its modern form. Other types followed soon thereafter, including the various tremolo and octave harmonicas. By the late 19th century, harmonica production was a big business, having evolved from a handcraft into mass-production with figures well into the millions, a market which continues to expand. New designs were still developed in the 20th century, including the chromatic harmonica, first made by Hohner in 1924, the bass harmonica, and the chord harmonica. In the 21st century, radical new designs are still being introduced into the market, such as the Suzuki Overdrive and Hohner XB-40.

Diatonic harmonicas were designed primarily for the playing of German and other European folk music and have succeeded well in those styles. Possibly unforeseen by its makers, the basic design and tuning proved adaptable to other types of music such as the blues, country, old-time and more. The harmonica was a success almost from the very start of production, and while the centre of the harmonica business has shifted from Germany, the output of the various harmonica manufacturers is still very high. Major companies are now found in Germany (Seydel, Hohner - once the dominant manufacturer in the world, producing some 20 million harmonicas alone in 1920 when German manufacturing totalled over 50 million harmonicas), Japan (Suzuki, Tombo, Yamaha), China (Huang, Leo Shi, Suzuki, Hohner) and Brasil (Hering). Recently, responding to increasingly demanding performance techniques, the market for high quality instruments has grown, resulting in a resurgence of hand-crafted harmonicas catering to those wanting the best, without the compromises inherent in mass manufacturing.

Europe and North America

Early use

Shortly after Hohner began manufacturing harmonicas in 1857, he shipped some to relatives who had emigrated to the United States. Its music rapidly became popular, and the country became an enormous market for Hohner's goods. President Abraham Lincoln carried a harmonica in his pocket, and harmonicas provided solace to soldiers on both the Union and Confederate sides of the American Civil War. Frontiersmen Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid played the instrument, and it became a fixture of the American musical landscape.

The first recordings of harmonicas were made in the U.S. in the 1920s. These recordings are 'race-records', intended for the black market of the southern states with solo recordings by DeFord Bailey, duo recordings with a guitarist Hammie Nixon, Walter Horton, Sonny Terry, as well as hillbilly styles recorded for white audiences, by Frank Hutchison, Gwen Foster and several other musicians. There are also recordings featuring the harmonica in jug bands, of which the Memphis Jug Band is the most famous. But the harmonica still represented a toy instrument in those years and was associated with the poor. It is also during those years that musicians started experimenting with new techniques such as tongue-blocking, hand effects and the most important innovation of all, the 2nd position, or cross-harp.

1950s Blues players

The harmonica then made its way with the blues and the black migrants to the north, mainly to Chicago but also to Detroit, St. Louis and New York. The music played by the Afro-Americans started increasingly using electric amplification for the guitar, blues harp, double bass, and a crude PA system for the vocals. Rice Miller, better known as Sonny Boy Williamson II, is one of the important harmonicists of this era. Using a full blues band, he became one a popular act in the South with his daily broadcasts on the 'King Biscuit Hour', originating live from Helena, Arkansas. He also helped to popularize the cross-harp technique, which became an important blues harmonica technique.

A young harmonicist by the name of Marion "Little Walter" Jacobs revolutionized the instrument by playing the harmonica near a microphone (typically a "Bullet" microphone marketed for use by radio taxi dispatchers, giving it a "punchy" mid-range sound that can be heard above radio static, or an electric guitar). He also cupped his hands around the instrument, tightening the air around the harp, giving it a powerful, distorted sound, somewhat reminiscent of a saxophone. This technique, combined with a great virtuosity on the instrument made him arguably the most influential harmonicist in history.

Big Walter Horton relyed less on the possibilities of amplification (although he made great use of it) and more on sheer skill. He was the favored harmonicist of many Chicago blues bandleaders, including Willie Dixon. His colorful solos used the full register of his instrument and some chromatic harmonicas. Howlin' Wolf's early recordings demonstrate great skill, particularly at blowing powerful riffs with the instrument. Sonny Boy Williamson II used the possibilities of hand effects to give a talkative feel to his harp playing. A number of his compositions have also become standards in the blues world. Williamson extended his influence on the young British blues rockers in the 1960s, recording with Eric Clapton and The Yardbirds and appearing on live British television. Stevie Wonder taught himself harmonica at age 5 and plays the instrument on many of his recordings. Jimmy Reed played harmonica on most of his blues shuffle recordings.

1960s and 1970s Blues players

The 1960s and 1970s saw the harmonica become less prominent, as the overdriven electric lead guitar became the dominant instrument for solos in blues rock. Paul Butterfield is a well known harp player of the era in the blues arena. Heavily influenced by Little Walter, he pushed further the virtuosity on the harp. Chicago harmonica player James Cotton specialized in slow, magnificent note-bends.

Bob Dylan also played his harmonica to add a touch of blues to his folk and rock sound during this era. Dylan was known for placing his harmonicas in a brace so that he could simultaneously blow the harp and play his guitar. Van Morrison, a long-time harmonica player, first played the instrument onstage in 1963 during a performance of Sonny Boy Williamson II's song "Elevate Me Mama". In 1965, when in London with his Them band and staying at the Royal Hotel, Morrison would run errands for Little Walter for harmonica playing tips.

George "Mojo" Buford, Jerry Portnoy, Lazy Lester, Corky Siegel, Sugar Blue, Charlie Musselwhite, Kim Wilson, Taj Mahal, Slim Harpo , Al "Blind Owl" Wilson of Canned Heat, John Sebastian of The Lovin' Spoonful (whose father was also a harmonica star in the Larry Adler classical harmonica days), and others all contributed originality and creativity to the recorded history of the blues harmonica. John Lennon played harmonica on early hits as "Love Me Do" and "I Should Have Known Better" and in his solo career on songs such as "Oh Yoko!."

Recently, newer harp players have had major influence on the sound of the harmonica. Heavily influenced by the electric guitar sound, John Popper of Blues Traveler plays rapid solo lines, often with guitar effects. Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine plays the harmonica on an electric guitar through an electronic pedal. Blackfoot, a Southern Rock band composed of mostly Native Americans, used the harmonica on a song called "Train Train", to simulate a train whistle and track. Craig "Twister" Steward (also spelled Stewart), a former harp player with Frank Zappa, recorded on the 1980 song "Joe's Garage Act I".

2000s Blues players

Contemporary harmonicists Howard Levy, Jason Ricci, Carlos del Junco,Olivier Poumay, Frederic Yonnet and John Popper emulate Little Walter. Levy explored and pioneered the over blow technique in the early seventies, which enables the diatonic harmonica to play full chromatic scales across three octaves, while retaining the particular sound of the harp. The over blow technique was first recorded in 1927 by Blues Birdhead (real name James Simons). Overblowing has been displayed more and more in the 1990s with the emergence of players like Howard Levy, Carlos del Junco, Adam Gussow,Kelly Family, Chris Michalek, and Otavio Castro, and players like Jason Ricci are starting to integrate it in a more blues or rock oriented music.

Other styles and regions

European harmonica player Philip Achille, who performs Irish, Classical, Jazz, Qawali and sufi music, has won jazz competitions and his classical performances have led to appearances on the BBC as well as ITV and Channel 4. In France, Nikki Gadout has become well known, and in Germany, Steve Baker and René Giessen (who played the title melody of the Winnetou-movies) are well respected. The Brazilian Flávio Guimarãe performs a variety of styles. In Nashville it is P. T. Gazell and Charlie McCoy, an American music harmonicist. In Irish circles, it is James Conway. Peter "Madcat" Ruth maintains an active website that links to the sites of contemporary players around the world. Wade Schuman, founder of the group Hazmat Modine, has fused overblowing with older traditional styles and middle European harmonies.

Southeast Asia

Development in Hong Kong and Mainland China

Harmonica music started to develop in Hong Kong in the 1930s. Individual tremolo harmonica players from China moved to Hong Kong to set up different harmonica organizations such as The Chinese Y.M.C.A. Harmonica Orchestra and China Harmonica Society. Heart String Harmonica Society was another organization set up by the then sole agency of Hohner in Hong Kong, W.S. Shirly & Co. In the 1950s, other than tremolo harmonica, chromatic harmonica became popular in Hong Kong. Prominent harmonica players Larry Adler and John Sebastian were invited to perform in Hong Kong. Local players such as Lau Mok and Fung On were also devoted to the promotion of the chromatic harmonica. In the Chinese Y.M.C.A. Harmonica Orchestra, Fung On gradually replaced tremolo and diatonic harmonicas with the chromatic harmonica.

The symphonic orchestration of the Chinese YMCA. Harmonica Orchestra started in the 1960s. The goals were to enhance the tone colour and the volume and to perform pieces composed for a symphony orchestra. In the mid-60s, the Chinese Y.M.C.A. Harmonica Orchestra had developed into one with about 100 members. Aimed at imitating the symphonic orchestration of the western orchestra; a number of traditional instruments in a western orchestra were replaced by various types of harmonica: violin and viola were replaced by 12-hole and 16-hole chromonicas; cello by chord harmonica, contra bass and octave bass; double bass by octave bass; flute by pipe soprano; clarinet by pipe alto; trumpet by horn soprano; trombone by horn alto; oboe by melodica soprano; English horn by melodica alto; French horn by melodica professional. Simultaneously, double bass, accordion, piano, and percussion like timpani and xylophone were also used.

The 1970s was regarded as the flourishing period in the development of harmonica music in Hong Kong. Haletone Harmonica Orchestra was set up at Wong Tai Sin Community Centre. Fung On and others continued to teach harmonica and set up harmonica orchestras in local secondary schools such as Hotung Secondary School, King's College, Kiangsu-Chekiang College, Queen's College, St. Paul's College, St. Paul's Co-educational College. In the 1980s, the number of harmonica learners decreased steadily, the result being that harmonica music in Hong Kong did not grow notably. In the 1990s, however, the development of harmonica music flourished again. Harmonica players in Hong Kong began to participate in international harmonica competitions, including the World Harmonica Festival in Germany and the Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival in different Asian cities.

In the 2000s, the Hong Kong Harmonica Association (H.K.H.A.) was established. The arrangement of its orchestras – the H.K.H.A. Harmonica Orchestra and the H.K.H.A. St. James' Settlement Junior Harmonica Orchestra – largely follows that of the Chinese Y.M.C.A. Harmonica Orchestra. It is evident that over the last forty years, the symphonic orchestration of harmonica music remained, in principle, the same. Put differently, the influence of Fung On in the symphonic orchestration of harmonica music in Hong Kong has been sustained for nearly half a decade.

Overall, Hong Kong can be seen as the forerunner of the formation of symphonic orchestration of harmonica music around the world. In the closing ceremony of the World Harmonica Festival in Trossingen, Germany in 2005, a European adjudicator told Dr. Ho Pak Cheong, the founding president of the H.K.H.A., that the Hong Kong delegation had brought a new world to the harmonica. In the Festival, the delegation was awarded first place in the categories of Orchestra, and School Orchestra; the distinctive characters of the H.K.H.A. harmonica orchestras seem to be recognized by overseas, renowned, harmonica players.

Development in Japan and Taiwan

In 1898, the harmonica was brought to Japan; there, the Japanese were more interested in the sound of the Tremolo; however after about 30 years, they became dissatisfied with the richter-based layout of the tremolo harmonica, and thus developed the scale tuning, as well as the semitone harmonicas, in order to be able to perform Japanese folk songs. During sometime in 1924 and 1933, it was brought to other places in East Asia.

The history of the harmonica in Taiwan began around 1945, due to the influence of numerous harmonica experts, as well as versatility and cheap prices of the harmonica. It became one of the standard instruments on the island, being treated as a serious instrument during its peak at the 1980s — more so than Europe and America, where it was often associated as a blues-only instrument. However, as the western lifestyle began to spread, as well as an increase in living standards, many instruments that were once too expensive to buy could be bought by the Taiwanese. Additionally, due to many schools of methodologies on the harmonica, the harmonica as an instrument almost faded to obscurity in the 90s.

In order to raise the appeal of the harmonica back to it what it once was, numerous harmonica lovers in Taiwan began to promote the harmonica heavily, starting with the introduction of harmonicas and methodology that are popular in the Western world (eg. Chromatic and Diatonic harmonicas), as well as participating in numerous international competitions. In 1993, the Yellowstone Orchestra won the first gold in an international harmonica competition. However, to the disappointment of many harmonica players, the resources for education are severely lacking, and many materials are not much different from those that were created 20 years ago.