It's Easy To Make Music

How To Play the Harmonica

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THE HARMONICA

What a flood of music a good player can get out of a har-
monica or mouth organ! It is almost a magic instrument when
an experienced player gets hold of it. Single-note tunes, melo-
dies with three-note accompaniments, and sonorous chords all
come flowing out of this simple instrument when you get the
knack of making it work for you. And another thing—you don't
have to be able to read music to play the harmonica. You can
play tunes you know by ear, as we will explain.

There are three principal kinds of harmonicas. These are the
plain harmonica, the concert, and the chromatic types. The
plain harmonica (Fig. 97) is the most popular one, and the
best kind for a beginner to start with. It has ten tone holes,
each of which produces two different notes, one when you
blow, and the other when you draw in your breath. This is due
to the fact that there are two reeds in each hole—one for the
blow note and the other for the draw-in note. The concert
harmonica (Fig. 99) has two rows of holes, and the reeds in
the upper holes are tuned one octave (eight notes) higher
than those in the lower holes directly beneath them. Thus,
when you blow, you play two notes an octave apart. The
same thing happens when you draw in your breath, but you
make a different note. The concert type makes a grand noise a
good deal like a small brass band.

Both of these harmonicas are made in several different keys,
ranging from G up to F. The ones in G are pitched very low,
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