The Harmonica and Irish Traditional Music

by Don Meade

! 2012
Donald J. Meade
All rights reserved
550 Grand Street, Apt. H6F
New York, NY 10002
USA
TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 3

WHAT KIND OF HARMONICA? 4

TECHNICAL TIPS 13

MAJOR, MINOR, MODAL 16

ORNAMENTATION 18

CUSTOMIZING AND MAINTAINING

CHROMATIC HARMONICAS 21

Appendix A: IRISH HARMONICA DISCOGRAPHY 26

Apendix B: MODE AND POSITION CHART 32

Appendix C: HARMONICA HISTORY 33

2
INTRODUCTION influenced by the way in which song airs
The name “harmonica” has over the years and dance tunes are played on instruments
been applied to a variety of musical with a longer history in the country, have
instruments, the earliest of which was developed their own distinctive techniques
probably an array of musical glasses and styles.
created by Ben Franklin in 1761. The 19th-
century German-speakers who invented the Instrumental technique is not really the key
mouth-blown free-reed instrument now to playing Irish traditional music. Anyone
known as the harmonica originally called it a who has ever heard a classical violinist
Mundharmonika (“mouth harmonica”) to stiffly bow through a fiddle tune will
distinguish it from the Handharmonika or understand that technical competence
accordion. English speakers have since cannot substitute for an understanding of
called it many things, including the mouth traditional style. That understanding can
organ, mouth harp, French harp, French only be acquired by listening to and
fiddle, harpoon, gob iron, tin sandwich and emulating good traditional players. If you
Mississippi saxophone. “Mouth organ” is the want to play Irish music, you should listen to
most common name in Ireland, where as much of it as possible. Listen especially
“harmonica” is often used only to refer to to music on the uilleann pipes, fiddle and
chromatic models. flute, the most important vehicles for Irish
traditional music for centuries and the
There is a notable local mouth organ instruments on which the foundations of
tradition in south County Wexford, home to traditional style were built.
the renowned Murphy family of Bannow, but
the instrument is quite popular throughout If you can hum, lilt or whistle an Irish tune,
Ireland. It is, however, not usually regarded you can learn to play it on the harmonica.
as highly by traditional music lovers as are The rest is just a matter of practice. Trying
the closely related concertina and button to play a tune you don’t really know, even if
accordion. Many people still think of the you can read sheet music or follow a written
harmonica as little more than a musical toy. pattern of blow and draw notes, is really a
lot harder than just playing by ear.
The tin whistle once suffered from a similar
reputation. In recent decades, however, You don’t need formal lessons to play Irish
Mary Bergin and other virtuoso players have music on the harmonica. Trial and error will
brought the once-humble whistle to the be your best teacher. Once you have a tune
forefront of the Irish musical tradition. The in your head, just try to play it. The more
harmonica is overdue for a similar re- you play, the more you will understand
evaluation. Recordings by the Murphys, about the structure and patterns of Irish
Eddie Clarke and other top Irish players tunes, and about the harmonica itself. And
provide convincing proof that the mouth the more tunes you learn, the easier it
organ is fully capable of conveying all the becomes to pick up new ones.
beauty and subtlety of Irish traditional airs
and dance tunes. Before attempting to play jigs and reels, you
should start by playing slower song airs,
How to Learn Irish Music marches and waltzes. These tunes provide
The harmonica was designed to play and an opportunity to build up your lip muscles,
accompany simple major-key European work on breath control and tone, and
melodies. The instrument has proved to be generally figure out how the harmonica
surprisingly flexible, however, and ingenious works. Not to mention that a complete
musicians from China to the American south traditional musician must be able to play
have found novel ways to play very different slow airs as well as fast dance tunes.
styles of music on it. Musicians in Ireland,

3
When you acquire enough proficiency to or hole can sound reeds for two different
move on to livelier tunes, keep in mind the notes. If you press or blow you get one
importance of a steady tempo. If you have note, but if you draw out you get another.
to slow down to play a difficult passage in a This in-and-out pattern imparts a naturally
tune, you're playing the rest of it too fast. It's bouncy rhythm to the music and explains
better to play slowly but at a consistent why single-action instruments are the free
tempo. If you can play fast, it doesn't mean reeds of choice for Irish dance tunes.
that you have to do so all the time. No one
would try to sing every song they know as On both the button accordion and
quickly as possible, but too many musicians harmonica (but not on the concertina), the
take that approach to dance tunes. Stick to notes of the scale are lined up in one row.
a tempo at that lets you put some Moreover, the tuning of chromatic
expression into the music. harmonicas, which will be discussed below,
is much like that of Irish-style two-row
Mouth Accordion? button accordions. Because of these
Fast-paced and highly ornamented Irish similarities, harmonica players can often
dance music is a challenging repertoire on adapt button accordion techniques to their
any instrument. Harmonica players will find instrument.
that some of the typical melodic patterns
and embellishments used by fiddlers, flute That said, it must be pointed out that it took
players and pipers are difficult to reproduce a long time for the button accordion to be
on their instrument. While no Irish tune is accepted as a valid instrument for Irish
totally impossible to play on the harmonica, traditional music. Only when accordionists
some just don't fit it very naturally. succeeded in approximating the rhythm and
ornamentation used on more traditional
Some tunes are awkward on other instruments did the “box” come into the
instruments too. Flute players and pipers mainstream of Irish music. Harmonica
often alter fiddle tunes to make them players can profit by their example.
playable on their instruments, and it is a
rare button accordionist who is comfortable WHAT KIND OF HARMONICA?
playing in all the keys used by fiddlers. You There are several distinct types of
shouldn't give up without a struggle, but if harmonicas. It is possible to play Irish
re-phrasing a passage or changing the key traditional music on all of them, and each
allows you to play music that is otherwise has its own advantages and disadvantages.
fiendishly difficult, you don’t have to be
ashamed to do so. Standard Diatonic Harmonicas
The diatonic harmonica is by far the most
Irish harmonica players can take some common variety. The most popular version,
inspiration from players of other free-reed often referred to as a “Richter” harmonica
instruments used in the Irish tradition. The (see appendix on harmonica history) is a
harmonica has a lot in common with the small instrument with 10 holes, each of
button accordion and “Anglo-German” style which contains a blow reed and a draw
of concertina, both of which have a long reed. Most diatonics have a single reed for
history of use by Irish musicians. All three each note but some have two, which may
are “single-action” free-reed instruments. be tuned slightly apart in order to produce a
wavering “tremolo” effect or an octave apart
On a double-action instrument like the piano for a “full concert” sound. All diatonic
accordion or “English” concertina, the same harmonicas have reeds only for the notes in
note sounds on both the press and draw. a single major (do-re-mi...) scale – they are
On a single-action instrument, each button like pianos with no black keys.

4
 STANDARD 10-HOLE DIATONIC HARMONICA

Key of C
Blow reeds shown in upper case, draw notes in lower case; available “bent” notes in italics

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

D# F# A#-B

Cd Eg Gb Cd Ef Ga bC DE fG aC

c# f- f# g# - a# c# g#

The scale used on a diatonic harmonica can scheme was designed to make it possible to
start on any one of the twelve notes used in play a simple two-chord accompaniment to
Western music. Standard diatonic major-key melodies.
harmonicas are available for all twelve,
some in both high- and low-pitched Some of the missing notes can be played by
versions. The harmonica is classified by the “bending” other notes. We’ll return to the
note on which the scale starts. If do is C, the subject of bending below, but even with that
harmonica is in the key of C. aid, the standard 10-hole diatonic’s tuning
scheme sharply limits its usefulness for Irish
A typical ten-hole diatonic like the Hohner traditional music.
Marine Band has a range of three octaves,
but the only complete octave starts with the Extended Range Diatonics
blow note in hole 4. To play this scale, you Longer standard diatonics give more scope
first blow into and then draw from hole 4, for solo melody playing, as they extend the
then repeat this in holes 5 and 6. To finish range of notes above the gapped scale in
the scale, you must reverse breath direction the first three holes. If you stick to the right
in hole 7, first drawing and then blowing. side of the longer diatonics, all the notes in
The reversal of breath direction ensures that the scale are available. The same draw
the next octave also starts on a blow note. bends are available as on the 10-hole
instrument, and there are a few more blow
The high octave that starts with blow 7 lacks bends in the highest holes.
the 7th note (ti) in the scale. The pattern of
blow and draw notes also changes in this As with the 10-hole diatonic, the draw notes
octave, where the draw notes are the lower are in different positions relative to the
of the two notes in each hole. In the middle adjacent blow notes in each octave. This is
octave, do and re are blow 4 and draw 4. very apparent in the extended high range,
But in the high octave, blow 7 is do while where in order to play a C major scale on a
draw 8 is re. C instrument it is necessary to skip from 10-
blow to 12-draw to 11-blow to play C, D and
The standard harmonica’s low octave starts E in sequence. Hohner’s Marine Band M364
with the blow reed in hole number 1 but the and M365 are the most easily available
scale is missing fa and la, while so is both a extended-range diatonic models. The 12-
draw note in hole 2 and a blow note in hole hole M364 is available in C, D and G, and
3. The reason for these gaps and the 14-hole M365 only in C and G
duplications is that the low octave tuning

5
 12-HOLE HOHNER M364

Key of C

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

D# F# A#-B C-D D# - F#

Cd Eg Gb Cd Ef Ga bC dE fG AC bE dG

c# f - f# g# - a# c# g#

14-HOLE HOHNER M365

Key of C

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

D# F# A#-B C-D D#-F# F#-B A#-D#

Cd Eg Gb Cd Ef Ga bC dE fG aC BE dG fC aE

c# f -f# g# -a# c# g#

“Cross Harp” and Country Tunings when playing on a C harmonica. In addition

The standard 10-hole diatonic harmonica to providing this “blue” note, cross harp
can be used to play Irish tunes, but it is shifts important notes in the scale to low
most favored by blues players, who make draw reeds that can be easily “bent” to
up the largest segment of the harmonica- sound notes the harmonica wasn’t designed
playing public. Blues stylists, however, do to play at all. In the low octave, a cross-harp
not usually play in the key in which the scale starts with 2 draw (or 3 blow, which is
harmonica is tuned, preferring the “cross the same note) but you have to bend 3 draw
harp” or “second position” scale, which down a whole step to play the second note
starts on a note pitched a fifth higher, i.e. so of the scale.
instead of do. In the C scale, so is G, which
means the cross-harp scale on a C Bending, which will be discussed in more
harmonica starts on G. So to play the blues detail below, is one way to play missing
in G, you use a C harmonica. notes on a diatonic harmonica, but “country-
tuned” diatonics provide another solution.
A complete cross-harp scale starts with the These are standard ten-hole diatonics on
blow reed in hole 6. The seventh note in this which one or more reeds have been retuned
scale is half a step lower (flatter) than in the so that you can play a complete two-octave
major scale, e.g., F instead of F# (F sharp) major scale in the cross-harp position.

6
 SIMPLE COUNTRY TUNING – SHARPENED 5 DRAW

Altered C harmonica

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

D# F# A# - B

Cd Eg Gb Cd E f#* Ga bC DE FG AC

c# f- f# a c# f g#

Irish tunes set in the “mixolydian mode” currently available on the Seydel “blues
(more on modes below) use a blues-like favorite country” model.
scale with a flattened 7th interval, and for
these the cross-harp position on a regular Another variation on standard tuning was
diatonic works well. You can also play a invented by New Zealand harmonica ace
true major scale in the cross-harp position if Brendan Power. In this tuning, which he
you start with the blow reed in hole 6, but calls “Paddy Richter,” the 3 blow reed is
you need to play a blow bend in hole 9. On tuned up a whole step (e.g., from G to A on
a C harmonica, this is a G major scale with a C harmonica). Low octave draw bends
F# instead of F. But you can’t play a G are still available but it’s easier to play Irish
major scale in the octave that starts with melodies in the cross-harp position without
draw 2. You can bend draw 3 down to having to bend. The draw note in hole 5 is
sound A, but there is no bend that will give still unbendable, however, so you still can’t
you an F# in the 5 draw hole. This is really play major-key melodies in cross-harp
because bends are only possible if the position in the middle octave unless you
pitches of the two reeds in a hole are offset use the advanced “overblow” technique
by at least a whole tone, and the difference pioneered in recent years among blues
between E and F is only a half tone. stylists by genius diatonic player Howard
Levy. But that’s a technique beyond the
One way to play major melodies in scope of this pamphlet.
crossharp position (and still be able to throw
in a lot of bluesy bends) is to retune the 5 An even more sophisticated “country” tuning
draw reed, sharpening it up a half step to F# is used on the Lee Oskar Melody Maker and
on a C instrument (see the asterisked note Hohner “Country-tuned” Special 20 models.
above). With a combination of bent notes This scheme raises the 5 blow reed a half
and this one retuned reed, you can play a step, as in simple country tuning, and the 3
true major scale in crossharp position in two blow a whole step, as in “Paddy Richter.”
different octaves. If you start with the G But it also raises the 9 draw reed a half
draw reed in hole 2, you have to play a draw step. With these three alterations (shown
bend in hole 3 to sound A. If you start the with asterisks on the chart below), you can
scale with the G blow reed in hole 6, you play a complete major scale over two whole
have to play a blow bend in hole 9 to sound octaves, starting with draw 2, without having
F#. Rick Epping, the first American to win to bend any notes.
the All-Ireland mouth organ championship,
has made good use of this tuning, which is Country-tuned harmonicas are usually

7
 “PADDY RICHTER” TUNING

C harmonica with sharpened 3 blow reed

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

D# F# B/A#

Cd Eg A* b Cd Ef Ga bC DE FG aC

c# f#/f a# c# g#

FULL COUNTRY (“MELODY MAKER”) TUNING

C harmonica with three altered notes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

D# B/A#

Cd Eg A* b Cd E f#* Ga BC dE F#* G AC

c# f#/f a# c# f g#

labeled in the cross-harp key (G for a C draw note sequence familiar to cross-harp
harmonica). But as the chart above shows, players and continue to bend notes, but
a “G” Melody Maker is really just a standard you’re not stuck with the flattened seventh
C instrument with three altered notes. of the blues scale.

This tuning is popular with Nashville-style Tremolo Diatonics

country musicians who want to apply bluesy Tremolo harmonicas have two reeds for
bends to major key melodies. Irish singer each note, one on the top plate and one on
and bouzouki ace Andy Irvine has also the bottom. In these instruments, unlike
made great use of Melody Maker standard “Richter” harmonicas, blow and
instruments in this way. The best example draw reeds are on the same reedplate, but
of applying this tuning scheme to Irish not in the same holes. Each reed is isolated
dance tunes without relying on bent notes is in its own chamber. The top and bottom
Galway native Paul Moran’s playing on First plates have an identical tuning scheme, but
Flight, a 2002 duet recording with fiddler the reeds on each are tuned with a slight
Fergal Scahill. offset in pitch to create the wavering tremolo
effect. This design was invented by Wilhelm
Country-tuned harmonicas might appeal to Anton Thie in Vienna and is known as the
anyone who has played a lot of blues “harp” Wiener or Thie system.
before attempting to tackle Irish traditional
music. You can stick with the blow-and- Some Wiener tremolos, including Hohner’s

8
 “ORIENTAL” TREMOLO DIATONIC HARMONICA

Key of C

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Gd Cf Ea Gb Cd Ef Ga bC DE FG aC bE

Comet models, have the two reedplates using equal temperament . As free-reed
tuned an octave, rather than just slightly, wizard Rick Epping has noted, these
apart. This is a different sort of tuning than differences make Oriental tremolos more
that used on so-called Knittlinger-system suitable than European models for melody
harmonicas like the Hohner Auto-Valve or playing.
Marine Band “full concert,” which have the
two reedplates tuned an octave apart but Oriental tremolos are also quite
still use the Richter system of having a blow inexpensive, So it's not surprising that this
and draw reed in each hole on each plate. kind of harmonica is the one most
commonly played by traditional musicians in
Most European-made tremolo instruments, Ireland, including the celebrated Murphy
including Hohner’s Echo models, use the family of County Wexford and many-time
same tuning scheme as standard Richter All-Ireland champions Michael Conroy, Noel
diatonic harmonicas, with the first three Battle and Austin Berry. At a fleadh cheoil
holes set up for chord playing. These mouth organ competition, most musicians
models are also usually tuned using “just” will be playing Oriental tremolos. Other
intonation, in which the chords sound pure diatonic instruments are allowed but
but the intervals between notes deviate chromatic players have been exiled to the
slightly from the “equal” intonation used on “miscellaneous instruments” competition.
most modern instruments
It used to be hard to find Oriental tremolo
The tuning scheme used for most tremolo models in the U.S. in keys other than C but
instruments made in the Far East (shown Hohner now imports the Echo Celeste in all
above) is diffferent. It is similar to that of 12 keys. Some Suzuki and Tombo tremolos
extended-range Richter diatonic and are also made in all keys, but they are not
tremolo instruments. But in place of the sold in the U.S.
chordal accompaniment setup in the first
three holes, there is a full four-hole low One interesting effect possible on tremolo
octave with no missing notes in the scale. harmonicas is to play on only one of the two
The middle and high octaves have the same reeds in each hole. The player can then
tuning pattern as Richter diatonics but are switch to playing both, as when a button
shifted one hole to the right, starting with accordionist changes the coupler setting to
blow 5 instead of blow 4. get a fuller sound. You can do this by
covering either the lower or upper reed
There is a smaller pitch offset between the holes with your lip and playing only from the
two reeds for each note on Oriental top or bottom. Antrim tremolo ace Kieran
tremolos, which gives them a “drier” sound McHugh did this on his 1980’s cassette
than European models. They are also tuned recording.

9
Despite the traditional pedigree of Oriental blow and draw notes is the same in every
tremolos, they don’t suit all Irish-style octave. The first octave starts with the blow
players. Many harmonica players don’t like reed in hole 1 (do) and finishes with the
the tremolo effect at all. And cross-harp blow reed in hole 4 (again do). But the next
stylists looking for bluesy effects will find octave starts with the 5 blow reed, which is
they can’t bend notes on a tremolo. also do. The same pattern is repeated in the
next octave, with both 8 and 9 blow
Solo-tuned Diatonics sounding do.
Oriental tremolos are sometimes called
“solo-tuned” because they don’t have any Doubling up the “tonic” (do) note makes
missing notes in the diatonic scale. A true each octave a standardized four-hole
solo-tuned diatonic is a different sort of module in which the sequence of blow and
harmonica designed so that the pattern of draw notes is the same. There is no need

SOLO-TUNED DIATONIC HARMONICA

Key of C

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Cd Ef Ga bC Cd Ef Ga bC Cd Ef Ga bC

to learn a separate tuning pattern in each harmonicas. These prevent air from passing
octave. The player does still have to acquire around reeds that aren’t being sounded and
a feel for which do reed he or she is playing. make for better tone and volume. The
4 and 5 blow are both do, for example, but 4 Hering is also cheaper than the Hohner or
draw sounds mi (half a tone lower) while 5 Seydel models.
draw sounds re (a whole tone higher).
Solo-tuned tremolo models are made by
Solo-tuned diatonics include the Chinese Hohner, Seydel and Huang. Most are
Huang Cadet Soloist, the Brazilian Hering available only in C, but Seydel’s high-end
8024 Master Solo, the German Seydel Fanfare models are made in D, G, A and B-
Solist Pro and Hohner’s Chinese-made flat. Except by custom order, non-tremolo,
Melody Star and Czech-made Marine Band solo-tuned diatonics are available only in
Soloist (model M3640). The Huang is a low- the key of C. That’s fine if you’re playing in
quality instrument that goes out of tune as C or related scales, but awkward if you want
soon as you start playing it. The Melody to play Irish tunes in the usual keys. The
Star is a cheap, 8-hole instrument for school best reason to play these instruments is that
children. The Marine Band model produces the same tuning scheme is used in
a mellow tone and has long-lasting reeds, chromatic harmonicas, so playing the solo-
but the lowest notes are weak because of tuned diatonic makes for an easy transition
air loss through the reed slots. The Seydel to the bigger instrument.
is better on air loss but the reeds are not as
well tuned. On the air-tight, well-tuned, Chromatic Harmonicas
plastic-bodied Hering, the first five reed If a diatonic harmonica is like a piano with
slots are covered by plastic “wind-saving only white keys, the chromatic harmonica
valves” of the type used in chromatic supplies the black ones. It is “chromatic”

10
because it includes all the colors of the respect the chromatic harmonica is very
musical rainbow. First marketed by Hohner similar to an Irish-style two-row button
in 1910, the chromatic is really two solo- accordion. To switch between the sets of
tuned diatonic harmonicas in one reeds, the player presses in a spring-
instrument. mounted slide on the right side of the
harmonica. The slide allows air to pass over
The reed plate on top has blow and draw only one set of reeds at a time. Pressing it
reeds for one key, while the plate on the in while playing a single note will raise the
bottom has blow and draw reeds for a pitch by a half tone (that's the same as the
different key pitched half a tone higher (e.g., interval between mi and fa or between ti and
C on top, C sharp below). This combination do in the diatonic scale).
includes all the notes of every key. In this

CHROMATIC HARMONICA

Key of C

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

C d Ef G a b C C d E f G a b C C d E f G a b C

C# d# F f# G# a# c C# C# d# F f# G# a# c C# C# d# F f# G# a# c C#

Chromatic harmonicas come in different of C. In practice, however, some keys

sizes and can have from 8 to 16 holes. To require extensive use of the slide and are
play a particular note, the player must know very awkward on the C harmonica,
which hole to play, whether to blow or draw, especially when one is playing fast-paced,
and whether it's necessary to press the highly ornamented Irish dance music. Even
slide. There is a price to be paid for having the most accomplished classical players
reeds for every note. Some chords available concede that “flat keys” like F and B flat are
in the usual diatonic tuning scheme cannot easier on the C harmonica than the “sharp
be played on a chromatic. The chromatic’s keys” like D and G common in Irish music.
reed slots are also covered with plastic
“wind-saving valves.” These flaps prevent Another problem with the purely chromatic
air loss through blow reed slots when approach is that the chords available on the
playing draw reeds (and vice versa), but C chromatic really only work for melodies
they also make it impossible to really bend set in C major or in some of the modal
notes or get that lonesome, bluesy wail that scales that use the same array of notes
for many people defines the sound of the (more on chords and modes below). So if
harmonica. In general, it is not possible to you’re playing in G on a C chromatic, for
get as strong and gutsy a tone on any example, you won’t be able to play a G
chromatic as it is on a small diatonic. chord and playing C blow chords will clash
with the melody.
Theoretically, a single chromatic instrument
can be used to play in any key. Classical One excellent chromatic harmonica for Irish
and jazz harmonicists do, in fact, play this music is the 10-hole, wooden-body Hohner
way, so the most expensive professional- Chromonica 260, available in the keys of G
quality instruments are only made in the key and C. The G instrument has the same

11
range as “first position” on the fiddle, from experience with Seydel instruments bought
low G to a high C. It is a perfect instrument in this country is that they are likely to be
for playing tunes in G major and related out of tune when delivered, even before you
modal scales, and can be played in cross- play them.
harp position for tunes based on a D scale.
The Chromonica 260 in C can be used in Many other chromatic models are available
cross-harp position to play tunes in G or from Huang, Suzuki, Miwha, Tombo and
related modal scales, but playing in D on a Lark. Be aware that the Hering “blues
C chromatic is awkward. chromatic” and “Vintage 40,” as well as
Hohner “Koch” and “slide harp” models are
Hohner also makes other chromatic models, chromatics with the same pattern of missing
including the 12-hole SuperChromonica notes in the first three holes as a standard
270 and the more expensive, plastic-bodied diatonic instrument.
CX-12. Both of these are available in all
keys, including D, which is particularly Other Tuning Schemes
useful for Irish music. There are many other harmonica tuning
systems besides those shown in the charts
The Brazilian-made, 12-hole Hering 5148, above. The Lee Oskar line includes diatonic
7148 (a slightly better version) and low-C harmonicas in “major 7th” (all the F’s on a C
“Baritono” 6148 models are excellent for diatonic tuned up to F#), harmonic minor (all
Irish music. The Herings have many the E’s and A’s on a C diatonic tuned down
advantages over the Super Chromonica. to D# and G#) and natural minor (all the E’s
They’re cheaper, for one thing, and the and B’s on a C diatonic tuned down to D#
tightly sealed plastic body allows very little and A#). Seydel will fill orders for virtually
air leakage. The reeds are more flexible, any tuning scheme a customer can devise.
blowing and drawing more easily as well.
Hohner’s Steve Baker model is a 12-hole
Disassembling and repair is easier with the diatonic instrument that, instead of adding a
Hering instruments as all parts are held higher range of notes to the normal 10-hole
together with screws rather than the tacks layout, applies the gapped-scale tuning
used on Chromonicas. The holes on the normally used in holes 1 through 3 to
mouthpiece are round rather than square, another, lower set of three holes. This
and the lack of corners seems to trap less sacrifices the highest notes to provide more
gunk. The mouthpiece projects out farther of the low-end draw bends preferred by
from the body, which some players prefer to blues and country stylists.
the flatter-faced Hohner design. The reeds
have a brighter, more metallic timbre than “Valved” diatonics are made by fitting wind-
the mellower Hohner sound. On the down saving valves (little plastic strips) on draw
side, Hering reeds go out of tune quickly, reeds 1 through 6 and blow reeds 7 through
especially on the low-pitched D instrument. 10. This prevents air leakage as well as the
usual sort of blues bending. It does,
Seydel makes chromatics in three ranges of however, allow for a choked sort of bend to
quality. Their DeLuxe 12-hole model is be played in all holes. Examples include
available in “Irish tuning” (B/C and F#/G) the Suzuki Promaster Valved.
and they can also make a C#/D model on
request. These tunings are extremely useful A new type of harmonica invented by Rick
when you start trying to use the slide for Epping, the Hohner “Extreme Bending” XB-
ornamentation, for reasons that will be 40, adds extra reed chambers to the
described below. Seydel instruments sold standard ten-hole diatonic instrument so
in the U.S. seem to be assembled here from that all notes, not just the usual ones, can
imported parts. Unfortunately, my own be bent a full tone lower.

12
Where to Get a Harmonica A partial B minor chord (B and D) can be
Hohner standard diatonic instruments are sounded by drawing from holes 3 and 4 or
widely available in retail music stores. from 7 and 8, and a partial F major (F and
Other types of Hohner instruments, and A) in holes 5 and 6 or 9 and 10. These
virtually all non-Hohner harmonicas, are same chords are also available, in slightly
most easily ordered these days from online different positions, on Oriental tremolo, solo-
vendors. tuned and chromatic instruments (see the
charts above).
Harp Depot, an online business based in
Ohio, is a good source for for chromatics On the standard C diatonic, but on no other
from Hering and other makers. Seydel’s type of C harmonica, a G major chord
website (www.seydel1847.de) is extensive, (G,B,D) is produced by drawing on holes 1,
and allows easy ordering of custom-tuned 2 and 3 or 2, 3 and 4, and a G7 chord
instruments. (G,B,D,F) by drawing on holes 2, 3, 4 and
5.. The gaps in the low octave scale in the
TECHNICAL TIPS “Richter” tuning scheme were designed to
make these “dominant” and “dominant 7th “
Playing Single Notes chords available, thus providing basic two-
The first problem beginning harmonica chord backing for major-key melodies.
players face is how to play one note at a
time. Some players use their tongue to A tongue-blocking player can achieve a
block out the notes they don't want to play. great effect by “vamping” on the tonic and
This technique is particularly favored by dominant 7th chords while playing the
those who like to tap their tongue against melody. This can be done by tapping the
the left side of a standard diatonic to sound tongue against the harmonica, alternately
chords while playing the melody from the blocking and unblocking holes on the left
right side of the instrument (more on this side of the instrument while playing the
below). Tongue blocking can also be used melody from the right side of your mouth.
to play the same note in two different This style of simple accompaniment recalls
octaves, one on the left side of your tongue that used on the melodeon (single-row
and the other on the right. diatonic button accordion), which has a
similarly limited selection of bass chords on
The other way to play single notes is to the left side of the instrument. To hear a
pucker your lips, opening them just enough master of the tongue-blocking chord
to blow into or draw out of one hole at a technique, listen to the late Phil Murphy's
time. You can still play chords by opening solos on the CD The Trip to Cullenstown.
your lips a bit more, but it's harder to get the It's hard to believe you're hearing only one
“oom-pah” chordal accompaniment prized player!
by tongue-blockers. It is easier, however, to
play fast and accurate single-note melodies If you’re not playing in the major key in
this way. It is possible, of course, to which the harmonica is set, the available
combine the two techniques. chords are less useful. Dorian modal tunes
(more on this below) are an exception. A D
Chords Dorian tune, for example, is best
On all types of harmonicas, blowing any accompanied by D minor and C chords,
three adjacent notes produces a major which are the only two three-note chords
chord. On a C instrument, it’s a C chord – available on a chromatic. But for other
the notes C, E and G in some order. On a modal scales, only “wrong” chords are
standard C diatonic, D minor chords (notes available.
D, F and A) are available by drawing from
holes 4, 5 and 6 or from holes 8, 9 and 10. Despite the limitations, playing chords is a

13
key element of style for many harmonica instrument on which this element of Irish
players. But if you use the harmonica’s traditional style can be used. It's possible to
limited chords to accompany tunes that they overdo the effect. Note bending is a
don’t really suit, you will produce something hallmark of blues “cross-harp” style and not
like the “harmony” an uilleann piper gets in synch with the usual sound of Irish music
from sounding the instrument’s D drones to as played on other free-reed instruments.
accompany a melody set in G or A. Whether
this sounds horrible to you or just To bend or not to bend is really a question
characteristic of the instrument is matter of of taste and style, but the type of instrument
taste. Chromatic ace Eddie Clarke also figures in. Players such as Mark
frequently added C chordal accents to G Graham and Andy Irvine, who use single-
tunes. This didn’t sound all that odd, but the reed diatonics and have been heavily
availability of more appropriate chords is influenced by American blues and country
one of the main reasons to use chromatics styles, make extensive use of bends in their
in different keys rather than trying to play playing, producing a interesting trans-
everything on a single instrument. Atlantic fusion style of Irish music.

Bending Notes But you can’t really bend notes on a tremolo

One way to play the missing notes on a harmonica of the type used by the Murphy
diatonic harmonica is to “bend” other notes brothers or Noel Battle because the blow
to get the missing pitch.. Bending is also a and draw reeds are separated into different
key element of blues style. If you’ve never chambers and can’t interact. Similarly, the
done this, try the easy bend on the draw “wind-saving valves” in a chromatic
note in hole 3 on a standard 10-hole harmonica block the airflow from passing
harmonica. Find the hole, purse your lips over the blow reed when you’re sounding
and draw air through it so that a single note the draw reed in the same chamber (and
sounds. Suck hard, draw your tongue back vice versa). So while you can choke a
and drop your jaw slightly to lower the pitch. chromatic reed a bit, you can’t really bend
You can control the degree of the bend by the tone fully as you can on a diatonic.
subtle adjustments of tongue and jaw.
Not all bends are easy to play in all keys,
Bending can only be done in a hole in which and considerable practice is required to
the musical interval separating the blow and control them. Some highly accomplished
draw reed is greater than a half step. If the diatonic players use “overblow” and
higher reed in a hole is a draw reed, you “overdraw” techniques pioneered by
can play a draw bend, and vice versa. This harmonica virtuoso Howard Levy to sound
means you can play draw bends in holes 1, tones that cannot played with traditional
2, 3, 4 and 6, and (with a bit more difficulty) bends. Irish harmonica ace Mick Kinsella
blow bends in holes 8, 9 and 10 of a makes use of these advanced techniques,
standard diatonic. The available bends are but they are outside the scope of this
shown in italic in the tuning charts above. pamphlet and (in this writer's opinion) not
What you’re really doing when bending is well adapted to Irish music played in
not lowering the sound of the reed you think traditional style.
you’re playing but forcing the other, lower-
pitched reed in the same hole to sound a The Lips and Tongue
tone above its normal pitch. Whether you’re a tongue blocker or a lip
puckerer, your lips can be painfully chafed
By bending notes, the harmonica player can by rubbing on the harmonica. As you
imitate the way fiddlers, pipers and flute become more proficient and relaxed, this
players flatten or slide up into notes. The problem will ease. If necessary, however,
harmonica, in fact, is the only free-reed you can use a little vaseline or other non-

14
toxic lubricant on your lips. Don't use too the player to breathe in, so some of the air
much or you'll blow the lubricant onto the you need to stay conscious will be acquired
reeds and deaden the sound. just by playing draw notes. You can
supplement this air supply, however, by
When you start playing the harmonica, you breathing in through your nose as well as
will discover lip muscles you didn’t know your mouth when you play a draw note.
you had. You have to build up your
“embouchure” (to use the high-falutin’ Many minor and modal tunes (see section
musical term) in the same way that other on modes below) emphasize the draw
wind instrument players do. Relaxation is notes. On these tunes, you may find your
key, however. If you grip the instrument too lungs getting uncomfortably full. You can
tightly with your lips, the muscles will get cope with this by using your nose like the air
fatigued in a hurry and you will not be able valve on an accordion, expelling excess air
to continue playing. through your nose whenever blow notes do
come along.
Even if you don't use tongue blocking, you'll
still need to use your tongue to play the On any wind instrument, whether the flute,
harmonica. To separate two successive trumpet or harmonica, the player must learn
notes of the same pitch, for example, you to produce an economical and steady
may find it useful to tongue the second note. supply of air. The key to this is not your
You do this by starting the note with a “T” lungs but your belly. Sit up straight or stand
sound, as if saying “tah.” This will release to play and use the muscles in your
the air from your mouth in a short puff. abdomen to regulate the flow of air. This will
prevent you from getting out of breath as
Many tunes have melodic passages that easily and you will be able to play sustained
require the player to alternate between a notes more smoothly.
one lower note and a succession of higher
notes. These patterns are easily played on For the most efficient playing and strongest
the fiddle or flute, but present difficulties on tone, you want the least amount of air
the harmonica because the player must leakage. On occasion, you must breathe in
move back and forth between widely through your nose while playing draw notes,
separated holes without sounding any of the but when playing blow notes, try to breathe
notes in between. It is often possible to alter out through your nose only as necessary to
the melody to avoid this difficulty, but you get rid of excess air in your lungs. If you find
can also tongue your way around the yourself out of breath after playing a few
problem. If you use your tongue to minutes, you’re doing something wrong!
emphasize each of the higher notes, it will
be easier to play them cleanly without No two harmonica players sound alike, even
sounding any of the “in-between” notes. if they play the same instrument in the same
style. A large aspect of the harmonica’s
An alternative to tonguing is to use the back sound is determined by the resonance
of your throat, as if saying “kah.” This is a provided by the player’s mouth, throat and
technique favored by some flute players. even lungs. Good players constantly
You can also play a rapid-fire, trumpet-style (though usually unconsciously) change the
triplet with tongue or throat, as if saying shape of their mouth and the force of their
“tah-tah-tah” or “tah-tah-kah.” . breath in order to coax notes into (or out of)
tune and to create the kind of tone they wish
Other Body Parts to hear. With practice, you will come up with
The nose is another useful body part for your own distinctive harmonica sound.
harmonica players. Half the notes on the
harmonica are draw notes, which require When moving from note to note on the

15
harmonica you can move your head back On a standard 10-hole diatonic harmonica,
and forth or you can move the harmonica. It a complete major scale starts with do on the
will ease the tension on your neck muscles blow reed in hole 4 and ends with do on the
and make for smoother playing if you learn blow reed in hole 7. The sequence of blow
to move the harmonica. You'll also look less and draw notes necessary to produce this
like a deranged muppet if you play this way. scale is easy to master. As discussed
above, you can also start the major scale
Many harmonica players in Ireland play with do on the blow in hole 1, but there will
“tremolo” instruments, which have a built-in be missing notes in scale in that range. The
wavering sound because of the two, slightly third octave, which starts with 7 blow, is
differently tuned reeds for each note. On nearly complete, lacking only the 7th note of
single-reeded instruments, a vibrato effect the scale.
can be achieved by cupping the harmonica
in both hands and opening and closing the On an Oriental tremolo, complete major
top or bottom hand. A little of this goes a scales start with the blow notes in holes 2, 5
long way, but it is a good effect on slow airs. and 8; on a solo-tuned or chromatic
instrument, with the blow notes in holes 1, 5
A more sophisticated vibrato can be and 8. On Melody Maker instruments,
produced by controlled pulsing of the throat complete scales start with draw 2 and blow
muscles or diaphragm. This typical wind 6. In these tuning systems, there are no
instrument technique has been exploited by missing notes in the diatonic scale.
jazz, blues and classical harmonica players.
Brendan Power, Mick Kinsella and Rick In the major scale most notes, including do
Epping’s Triple Harp Bypass recording and re, are separated by an interval called a
features virtuoso use of this effect. whole tone. The difference between mi and
fa, however, as well as that between ti and
MAJOR, MINOR, MODAL do, is only half as great and is known as a
Harmonica players, like other traditional half tone. This is why there is not a black
musicians, learn mostly by ear and don't key between every two white keys on a
pay much attention to theory. It is useful, piano. And this whole-whole-half-whole-
however, to know a bit about the different whole-whole-half pattern of intervals defines
scales used in Irish music. the major scale.

The Major Scale in First Position Modes

The standard diatonic tuning scheme was Using the same array of notes as the major
designed to make it easy to play melody scale but starting on a note other than do
and chords for a single major key, which produces a “modal” scale in which the half-
can be thought of as the “home key” of the tone intervals fall in different places. Tunes
harmonica. Even on a chromatic harmonica, that use the notes of a major scale but that
it is easier to play in the home key than in start and resolve on some other note than
any other. Playing in this key is often called the tonic note of that scale are referred to as
“first position.” modal tunes. Such tunes abound in Irish
music as they are easily played on the harp,
The major scale is simply the familiar do-re- tin whistle, un-keyed flute or the chanter of
mi... diatonic scale. A major-key melody, the uilleann pipes chanter.
whether it's “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” or The “Ionian” mode is another name for the
“The Irish Washerwoman,” will usually finish major scale. If you use the same notes but
(“resolve”) on do, the “tonic note” of the key. start the scale with re instead, you will
If you are playing a C harmonica, the home produce what is known as the re scale or
key is C and do is C. “Dorian” mode (some blues players call this
“third position” or “slant harp”). A Dorian

16
melody will resolve on re instead of do and sound the next note in the scale. On a
the third and seventh notes will be half a chromatic harmonica, the Mixolydian scale
tone flatter (lower) than the corresponding starts with the blow note in hole 3 or 7.
notes in the major scale.
The seventh note of the Mixolydian scale is
Dorian melodies are extremely common in flat compared to the major scale, so a
Irish music. Most Irish tunes referred to as Mixolydian tune rooted on D (e.g., “Rakish
being in a “minor” key actually use Dorian Paddy”) can be most played easily on a G
scales that resolve on A, E, D or B. A- harmonica, which has a C natural instead of
Dorian tunes such as “The Star of Munster” a C#. Mixolydian tunes based on A (e.g.,
use the same notes as major key tunes in “The Ivy Leaf”) are easiest on a D
the key of G and so can most easily be harmonica and those rooted on G (e.g. “The
played on a G harmonica. E-Dorian tunes Girl That Broke My Heart”) on a C
such as “Cooley's Reel” are easiest on a D harmonica.
harmonica. D-Dorian tunes (e.g., “Master
Crowley’s”) are easiest on a C instrument Draw notes are more prominent in Dorian,
and B-Dorian tunes (e.g., “The Banks of Aeolian and Mixolydian melodies than in
Lough Gamhna”) on an A instrument. One Ionian (major) melodies. This can cause
great thing about playing Dorian melodies problems because of the need to expel the
on the harmonica is that the two basic excess air that accumulates in your lungs
chords available on all harmonicas (C and D between blow notes. Like anything else, the
minor on a C instrument) are the ones those more you practice playing in these modes,
you need to accompany tunes in that mode. the easier it will become. The key is to be
economical with your breath and to use your
The natural minor scale, also called the nose to expel air whenever possible.
“Aeolian mode,” “la mode” or “fourth
position,” can be played using the same There are other modes, including the
array of notes as the major scale but Phrygian (mi), Lydian (fa) and Locrian (ti),
starting on la. In this scale (which is not but they are extremely uncommon in Irish
nearly as common in Irish music as the music. A great many Irish melodies cannot,
Dorian mode), the third, sixth and seventh however, be strictly classified by scale or
notes are half a tone flatter (lower) than in mode. Some use one mode in the first part
the major scale. A true E-minor tune (e.g., and another in the second. Others use
“The Rights of Man”) uses the same notes gapped scales in which the third and/or
as G major and so can most easily be seventh notes are never played at all. Still
played on a G harmonica. A-minor tunes others inconsistently flatten the third or
(e.g., “Paddy Ryan’s Dream”) are easiest on seventh notes of the scale, slipping back
a C harmonica and B-minor tunes on a D and forth among Ionian, Mixolydian and
harmonica. Dorian modes. Such tunes are most easily
played on a chromatic instrument.
Another mode commonly used in Irish
music is the “Mixolydian,” which uses the Positional Playing
same notes as the major scale but starts on Major melodies in first position are the
so. This mode is the basis for the blues easiest on the harmonica. Strictly modal
cross-harp (“second position”) scale. It is tunes that use the same notes as the first
also the scale used on the highland position major scale are also quite easily
bagpipes (aka “warpipes”). On a standard played. It’s trickier to play major melodies
10-hole diatonic, the only full Mixolydian outside of first position, or modal melodies
scale stars with the blow note in hole 6, but that start on other than the usual notes, To
you can also start it with the blow note in do so requires notes not easily playable on
hole 3 if you bend the draw note in hole 3 to a diatonic harmonica.

17
An examples of positional playing would be missing on one reed plate is available on
to play in D major on a G harmonica. This is the other. In practice, some positions are
similar to the Mixolydian/cross harp position ridiculously difficult, but the slide does make
described above. The difference is the it relatively easy to play a G scale on a C
seventh note of the scale, which in a harmonica, an scale A on a D harmonica or
Mixolydian tune is half a step lower than it is a D scale on a G harmonica. This chromatic
in the major scale. The D Mixolydian scale, cross-harp approach can be heard at its
for example, includes a C natural instead of best on recordings by Eddie Clarke.
the C# of D major.
A chart illustrating the common modes and
To play in D major on a standard G diatonic, positions most easily played on harmonicas
you can bend the draw D in hole 2 down to of different keys is included as an appendix.
C# and, with more difficulty, bend down the
blow D in hole 9. Unfortunately, you can't ORNAMENTATION
bend the blow D in hole 6, and that just Ornamentation is one of the keys to making
happens to be where the most useful C# your harmonica playing sound truly Irish.
would be located. That’s why the Lee Oskar The amount of ornamentation you put it is a
Melody Maker and other country-tuned matter of taste and different players have
models are tuned the way they are with the different styles of embellishment. As a rule,
C reed (5 draw) sharpened up to sound C#. you should avoid over-decorating tunes to
With these instruments, it's easy to play a the point where the original melody is
true major scale in second position. obscured. You should definitely leave out
ornamentation that you can't play without
Other positions are possible on diatonic disrupting the rhythm of the tune.
harmonicas, but the need to bend more
notes presents more difficulties. You can try Because of the similarities between the
to play a true D minor (Aeolian mode) tune button accordion and the harmonica, the
on a C harmonica, for example, but there is kind of embellishments that can be played
no reed for the B flat in the D minor scale, on the harmonica are the same ones that
and no way to produce one in the second are available on the “button box.” If you
octave by bending. With Howard Levy-style listen to what good Irish button
“overblows” and “overdraws,” it is possible accordionists do to ornament their music, it
(though very difficult) to play chromatically will give you some hints on how to dress up
on a diatonic harmonica. That is not, Irish tunes on the harmonica.
however, a style compatible with the sound
of other free-reed instruments used in the Grace Notes
Irish tradition. The simplest ornament on the harmonica is
the grace note. This is a very quick note that
Without resorting to note-bending or leads into a note of normal duration, which
overblows, diatonic harmonica players can is the note being “graced.”. The most useful
emulate melodeon players, who often craft grace note is the higher one sounded using
settings that omit notes they can’t play. the same breath direction in the hole just to
Connemara melodeon great Johnny the right of the note being graced, though
Connolly is a master of this technique, you can also “grace” with a lower note.
which he demonstrates by playing subtly
different settings of “Miss McLeod’s Reel” in The note being graced is not delayed by the
D, G and A major – all on a box that has grace note. Instead, the grace note
only the notes for the D major scale. subtracts marginally from the length of the
note previous to the one being graced.
On a chromatic harmonicas, all positions Grace notes can be tongued but are also
are theoretically possible, as any note very useful for separating two identical

18
notes without using your tongue. This is a middle note. Blow any note, then quickly
technique often used by button play the draw note in the same hole and
accordionists and mimics the way pipers, return to the original blow note. Each note in
fiddlers or flute players flick down a finger to this kind of triplet has a clipped-off
separate notes of the same pitch. “staccato” sound that is particularly effective
when playing hornpipes. It also
Triplet Ornaments approximates the sound of a bowed triplet
The most important ornamental figure on on the fiddle.
the harmonica is a quick two-hole triplet
played without changing breath direction. A You can also play a staccato triplet
triplet is three notes played in the same ornament on a draw note, but it may take
amount of time as two notes of normal two holes. You usually want the middle note
duration. Triplet ornaments are much easier of the triplet to be higher than the note being
if you purse your lips rather than tongue- ornamented, so when starting on a draw
block to play single notes. Blow or draw any note, you usually need to move to the next
note and quickly (without changing breath hole to the right to play the middle note
direction) shift one hole to the right and before returning to the original hole and
back to the original note. The middle note of drawing again.
the triplet is usually (but not always) two
steps higher than the note being An entirely different sort of staccato triplet
ornamented, e.g., do-mi-do. can be played with the tongue alone on a
single note. Play any note (blow notes are
The first note of the triplet can be tongued to easier for this) and use your tongue as if
give it extra emphasis or to separate the saying “tah-tah-tah.” Alternatively, you can
triplet from the preceding note when, as is do what trumpet players do and use the
often the case, that note is of the same pitch back of your throat to finish the triplet, as if
as the first note of the triplet. To hear how saying “tah-tah-kah.” Tremolo master
this two-hole triplet should sound and where Kieran McHugh of Antrim used this
it should be used in a tune, the best model technique on his cassette recording.
would be recordings by the Murphy family or
Noel Battle. Slide Ornaments
Another kind of one-hole triplet can be
Fiddlers, pipers and flute players often play played only on a chromatic harmonica. This
a four-note ornament called a “short roll” triplet is composed of the note being
that takes the place of two eighth notes in a ornamented followed by a note a half a step
reel or hornpipe. In the short roll, the note lower and the original note (e.g., do-ti-do).
being ornamented is preceded by a higher This kind of ornament is known as a
grace note and followed by a note half a mordent to classical musicians, but I refer to
step lower before the player returns to the it as a “slide triplet” because you play it by
main note. If G is the note being using the slide mechanism on the chromatic
ornamented, the short roll includes the harmonica.
sequence A-G-F#-G. The short roll cannot
really be played quickly enough on the The slide triplet can be played quickly and
harmonica or the button accordion to make smoothly only if all three notes are in the
it work. Box players usually substitute a same hole and same breath direction. This
triplet for a short roll, and harmonica players is possible only if you start the triplet on the
can follow their example. higher-pitched of the two reed plates. On
standard chromatic harmonicas, the notes
Staccato and Tongued Triplets on the higher-pitched reed plate are on the
On blow notes you can play a one-hole bottom of the instrument and are only
triplet by changing breath direction for the available if you push the slide in.

19
So to use slide triplets on a standard using the slide to get a note half a step
chromatic harmonica, you hold the slide in higher, it is disorienting to get a note half a
with your thumb or finger when playing. step lower. If you're already a chromatic
When you come to a note you want to player, you will have to lose old habits and
ornament, you briefly release the slide and relearn certain tunes to use this scheme.
press it in again. An alternative is to
disassemble the slide mechanism and Upward and Downward Triplets
reassemble it with the slide upside down, so The triplet ornaments described above start
that notes on the higher-pitched reed plate and end on the same note. It is also
sound with the slide out. That way, you play possible to play upward or downward
the triplet by quickly pressing the and triplets that start on one note and end on
releasing the slide in, which is easier on the another. Such triplets are very common in
hand (more on this below in the section on Irish tunes and can often put in or left out for
reversing the slide). sake of variation.

To hear what the slide triplet should sound Some upward triplets are easily played on
like, listen to the recordings of Eddie Clarke, the harmonica because two of the notes are
who pioneered this technique and relied in adjacent holes and use the same breath
almost exclusively on it for ornamentation. direction. To play an E-F#-G (la-ti-do) triplet
As with other ornaments, you can tongue on a G chromatic, for example, you draw
the first note of the triplet to give it extra from holes 7 and 8 then blow into hole 8.
emphasis or to separate it from a preceding
note of the same pitch. Other triplets, however, require the player to
change breath direction twice by blowing
It is tempting to try to use the slide triplet on and drawing in one hole and then blowing
the lower-pitched reed plate, i.e., the one into the next hole to the right. For example,
normally played when the slide is out. If you to play a B-C-D (mi-fa-so) triplet on a G
do so, however, the middle note of the chromatic, you blow and draw in hole 6 and
triplet will be half a step higher instead of then blow into hole 7 (on a diatonic it's holes
half a step lower than the note being 5 and 6). This sort of triplet, like the staccato
ornamented. This just doesn't sound right, triplet sounds very clipped. Sometimes this
as it doesn't resemble ornaments used by sound is what is desired, as when a fiddler
Irish musicians on other instruments. If you purposely bows each note of a triplet
want to embellish a note on the lower- instead of slurring them together.
pitched plate, you really should stick to the
two-hole triplet described above. If you want to play such a triplet more
smoothly, you can use the slide to play the
The big disadvantage of the slide triplet is middle note of the triplet. Doing this allows
that you cannot use it when playing you to play all three notes as blow notes. A
standard instruments in concert pitch. That's similar technique is used by two-row button
because you're playing from the higher reed accordionists, who use the lower-pitched
plate, e.g. G# on a G instrument. There are outer row of buttons like a chromatic
ways around this problem, however, which harmonica player uses the lower-pitched
will be discussed in the section on custom reed plate.
tunings below.
To play a smooth mi-fa-so triplet, hold the
Anyone accustomed to playing the slide in, blow into hole 6. Move to hole 7
chromatic harmonica in the “normal” fashion while simultaneously releasing the slide to
may have problems adjusting to a system sound the second note, then press the slide
based on playing from the higher-pitched again while continuing to blow into hole 7 to
reed plate. If you've become accustomed to complete the triplet. Practice is required to

20
perform this sequence quickly and and then, without changing breath direction,
accurately. play the note in the next hole to the right.
Return to play the original note and then
On a standard harmonica, when playing use the slide to sound the note half a step
from the higher-pitched reed plate with the lower finishing on the original note. If you
slide in, every note is half a step higher than start with the blow note in hole 5 on a
it would be on the lower reed plate. When standard C chromatic, this is do-mi-do-ti-do
playing an upward slide triplet in holes 6 (C-E-C-B-C) but with every note raised half
and 7, however, the middle note (the one a step since you're on the C# reed plate (it
played with the slide) is actually a whole can be played in C if you play from the
tone higher than it would have been on the higher C plate on a standard B harmonica).
lower-pitched reed plate. The melodic
difference is hardly detectable when the The rhythm of either version of the long roll
triplet is played quickly, however. is tricky to master. The first note (the one
being “rolled”) should be sounded the
True Rolls longest, while the fourth, lower note should
As noted above, it is not possible to play a be played very quickly. The slide version of
“short roll” quickly enough on the the true roll is easier to play in good rhythm
harmonica, and we must substitute a triplet. than the diatonic version because that quick
It is possible, however, for a harmonica fourth note can be played with a flick of the
player to produce a passable five-note “long slide instead of moving to another hole. The
roll,” an ornament that replaces a whole slide roll also sounds better because the
beat in a jig, reel or hornpipe. The long roll fourth note is a half-tone lower than the note
starts with the note being ornamented and being rolled, which sounds more like the
then continues with a higher note, the main rolls played by fiddlers, pipers and fluters.
note, a lower note and the main note again,
e.g., G-A-G-F#-G. Chromatic players can use an alternative
that is easier to play. Just hold the note that
To play a long roll fast enough to fit into a jig you want to ornament to the last possible
or reel, all the notes must use the same split second and then use the slide to
breath direction. To do this on a diatonic squeeze in a quick triplet. This is not really a
harmonica, play any note and then, without roll, but it's played in the same amount of
changing breath direction, move to the next time and can be used in place of a true roll
hole to the right, back to the original hole, until you master the real thing.
then to the next hole to the left and back to
the original hole. If you start with the blow CUSTOMIZING AND MAINTAINING
note in hole four, the roll would use the CHROMATIC HARMONICAS
notes do-mi-do-so-do (C-E-C-G-C on a C
diatonic). This sort of ornament is adapted Reversing the Slide
from the rolls played by old-time melodeon Eddie Clarke played standard Hohner
players. chromatics while holding the slide in with his
thumb, releasing it to play triplet ornaments
A chromatic player can produce a snappier or notes on the upper reed plate. The same
version of the long roll by using the slide. effects can be achieved with less stress on
You must play from the higher-pitched your hand by reversing the slide, i.e., by
bottom reed plate on the chromatic in order assembling the slide mechanism upside
to use the effect. The chromatic long roll down so that the higher-pitched reeds are
can be thought of as a Murphy-style two- played when the slide is out.
hole triplet followed by an Eddie Clarke-
style slide triplet. To play it, blow or draw To do this on a Hohner Chromonica or
any note on the bottom (higher) reed plate SuperChromonica, remove the screws

21
holding the slide assembly to the To use Clarke’s ornamentation system in
harmonica. Be careful not to lose the small “first position” (e.g. in G on a G harmonica),
plastic cylinders in the screw holes. Lift off you need instruments tuned C#/D or F#/G.
the outermost piece (the mouthpiece) tol These aren't standard tunings, but you can
expose a three-layer sandwich of thinner buy or assemble such instruments from
metal strips. Take off the outer layer of the some makers and dealers. Seydel’s
sandwich to get at the innermost strip, the website will take custom orders for any
slide itself. The slide has a small hole on the tuning, and Harp Depot in Ohio sells Hering
right side through which the end of a spring chromatics and replacement “combos”
protrudes. Detach the slide from the spring, (combs with two reeds already mounted) in
turn it over and reattach it upside down. C#/D, B/C and F#/G. Hohner chromatics in
Then reassemble the whole mechanism and these tunings can only be assembled by
reattach the screws. With the slide upside matching reed plates from different sets. To
down, you can produce an Eddie Clarke- change a standard G/G# chromatic into an
style slide ornament by quickly pressing and F#/G model, you need to get an F# reed
releasing the slide. plate from a standard F set. Then you
remove the G# plate and replace it with the
You can also reverse the slide on Hering F# plate.
and Seydel chromatics but not on some
other models. It is difficult, for example, to To assemble a C#/D Hohner Super-
disassemble the slide mechanism on the Chromonica 270, you replace the D# plate
Hohner Chrometta. Suzuki chromatics don’t with a C# plate from a Hohner “tenor” C set
have the spring hole in the center of the of plates. A C# plate from a Hering 6148
slide, which prevents it from being reversed. “Baritono” C set can be used in the same
Reversing the slide doesn’t work at all on way to replace the D# plate on Hering 5148
Hohner’s CX-12 model because it’s “cross or 7148 D instrument. You can’t use a C#
tuned,” i.e., the reeds for the “home” key are plate from a regular C set because D
split between the top and bottom plates. instruments are the lowest-pitched
chromatics and C the highest. The low
Custom Tunings octave on a D instrument is below the
The main disadvantage of playing from the lowest note on a standard C instrument, so
bottom reed plate of standard chromatic a standard C# plate doesn’t match up.
instruments is that you can't play in concert Unfortunately, you cannot assemble a ten-
pitch. That's why Eddie Clarke, who played hole C#/D or F#/G Hohner Chromonica 260
C/C# harmonicas from the bottom (C#) reed this way because Hohner doesn’t make ten-
plate, was always half a step sharp on his hole D, tenor C or F reed plates.
recordings. That is handy for sessions
where everybody is playing half a step Hering plates are easily changed because
sharp a la De Dannan, but it's annoying they're attached to the comb with screws
when you want to play with other musicians instead of tacks. Occasionally, however,
in standard tuning. you might find that a plate from one comb
cannot be attached attached to a different
Clarke could have played in concert pitch if comb – the fit is not exact. Plates on Hohner
he had a standard chromatic harmonica in 270 Chromonica models are more
the key of B, which has a bottom reed plate consistent, but to change plates you must
in the key of C. Such an instrument, which carefully pry up the tacks holding them
is tuned much like a B/C button accordion, down. The new reed plate must then be
is favored by Irish harmonica virtuoso Mick tacked down as tightly as possible to avoid
Kinsella. Like Clarke, Kinsella uses “second air leaks.
position” to play tunes in G on a C
instrument.

22
 “IRISH-TUNED” CHROMATIC HARMONICAS

F#/G

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

G a B c D e f# G G a B c D e f# G G a B c D e f# G

F#g# A# b C# d# f F# F# g# A# b C# d# f F# F# g# A# b C# d# f F#

C#/D

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

D e F# g A b c# D D e F# g A b c# D D e F# g A b c# D

C# d# F f# G# a# c C# C# d# F f# G# a# c C# C# d# F f# G# a# c C#

B/C

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Cd E f Ga bC Cd E f Ga bC Cd E f Ga bC

B c# D# e G# a# a# B B c# D# e G# a# a# B B c# D# e G# a# a# B

Hohner does not sell customized following address:

harmonicas directly. You have to buy a
standard instrument from a retailer and Hohner, Inc.
send it to Hohner to change the plates. As Harmonica Repair Department
plates are normally sold as a set, you will be 1000 Technology Park Drive
charged for plates you don’t need, e.g. an F Glen Allen, VA 23059
plate when you really only want an F#.
Some players create their own custom
The Hohner repair department used to be tunings. Seattle harmonica ace Joel
very customer-friendly and would adjust and Bernstein once made a 10-hole C#/D
re-tune instruments for reasonable rates. harmonica by retuning all the reeds on a C
The policy changed in 2009, however, so Chromonica 260 up half a tone, though he
that it now costs about as much to have a found that the reeds on the radically retuned
chromatic re-tuned as it would to buy an instrument would not hold their pitch. Jean
entirely new instrument. If you still choose DuVal, a Quebec flute and harmonica
to have Hohner do the modifications, you player, created a 10-hole Chromonica with a
have to mail the instrument to them at the top reed in G and a bottom plate in D. The
D plate was originally a C# plate that he re- the gap between the body of the instrument
tuned up half a tone (he reports that his re- and the slide assembly, and this might
tuned plate held its pitch). While this tuning actually cause more air loss and a weaker
does not allow the use of Eddie Clarke-style sound. Removing and re-attaching the slide
slide triplets, it does make for interesting mechanism may also cause the hole to
shortcuts, as you can go from G or A down become so chewed up that the screws no
to D merely by pressing in the slide. longer hold properly. You can use bits of
paper to help anchor the screw in the hole.
Brendan Power uses a variety of non-
standard tunings and often favors a “slide Except for the very highest notes, each reed
diatonic,” a chromatic instrument on which on a chromatic harmonica is covered by a
the bottom reed plate is tuned a whole tone two-part plastic flap called a wind-saving
instead of a half tone higher than the top valve or simply wind-saver. The two
plate. On such an instrument, you can play overlapping plastic strips that make up each
on the top reed plate and flick the slide in valve often become stuck together and rise
and out to get triplets that go up a whole above the reed slot, which causes an
tone and back. Power also feels that this annoying flapping noise and a weaker
setup makes some difficult passages more sound. The valves will eventually get moist
easily playable. and loosen up after a few minutes of playing
but you can separate the parts yourself with
Maintenance careful use of a small screwdriver, knife or
Diatonic harmonicas are fairly robust but toothpick to hasten this process.
chromatics, with their complicated slide
assembly and “wind-saving” valves, need a The opposite problem is also possible – a
lot of regular attention to play well. valve can get really sticky and will adhere to
the plate, causing a delay before the reed
If you've got a harmonica with a wooden sounds. In such a case, you will need to
comb, you should never soak it or put it carefully lift up and clean the valve itself.
under the tap to clean it. Old-time blues
players used to do this with wooden diatonic Reeds do go out of tune. The blow reeds
harmonicas because it makes for a bigger you use the most tend to go flat after a
sound. But a wet wooden comb will expand, while. You can re-tune a reed by scratching
cause air leaks and abrade your lips. On a it gently on one end or the other. Scratch
chromatic, it can make it impossible for the the reed near the tip to raise the pitch.
slide assembly to fit properly. You do need Scratch it nearer the base to lower the pitch.
to take off and clean the pieces of a If you want to tune blow reeds, which are on
chromatic slide assembly occasionally, as the underside of the reed plate, it’s best to
they get gummed up with bits of your lip and take the plate off the comb to get at them. A
dried saliva. Take the slide mechanism harmonica repair kit from Lee Oskar
apart, carefully clean the pieces, and includes various files and chisels for tuning
reassemble it. Be careful not to lose the little reeds as well as other useful implements.
plastic cylindrical screw anchors.
If a reed doesn't sound at all, it's probably
Before reassembling the slide mechanism, because a hair or a piece of dried skin is
you can help keep it working smoothly by stuck to it or touching it. Carefully brush the
rubbing a little vegetable oil on the slide reed with a soft toothbrush. You can also lift
(don't use toxic machine oil!). A little oil on a the reed with a small screwdriver, pin or
wooden comb can also help keep the wood toothpick and remove any extraneous
moist and create a bigger tone. matter interfering with a clean sound.
Ironically, by cleaning the slide you may A reed that buzzes may be out of alignment,
remove bits of gunk that actually help seal so that the vibrating reed touches the side

24
of the slot in which it is mounted. You can point, you really need a new reed plate, but
correct this by gently nudging the reed don't throw away the old one. Save it to
sideways, something made easier with a scavenge spare wind-saving valves.
small wrench that is included in the Lee
Oskar tool kit. If the slide is working properly but you hear
two dissonant notes when playing from a
A reed may also stop sounding altogether if single hole, you probably have a crack in
metal fatigue causes it to droop so that the comb. The crack allows air blown in
there is not enough of a gap between the one hole to vibrate reeds on both reed
end of the reed and the surface of the reed plates. If the crack is not too severe, you
plate. You can pry the reed up to restore it can fill it in with wood glue, but if this doesn't
to life. Be gentle as it won't sound if lifted work, you need a new comb.
too high either! Eventually a reed may
simply get too worn out to retune. At that

25
 APPENDIX A: IRISH / SCOTTISH / QUEBECOIS HARMONICA DISCOGRAPHY

Full-length harmonica recordings reeded tremolo diatonics. His chord playing

and rhythmic emphasis closely mimics the
TOMMY BASKER sound of Scottish piano accordion players.
The Tin Sandwich, Silver Apple CD
(www.cranfordpub.com) LOUIS BLANCHETTE
The late Cape Breton Islander played Scots Blanchette (1905-1969) recorded many
and Irish tunes on simple diatonic sides of Quebec reels (one reel per track) in
harmonicas. He used virtually no the 1930s on the “musique à bouche” with
ornamentation and rarely played single accompaniment from piano and his own
notes. He had rock solid rhythm though, stamping feet. His playing was reissued on
and his chordal style emulated the Cape a couple of LPs. There are some familiar
Breton fiddle technique of continually Irish/Scots melodies, some with an odd beat
droning on open strings. Basker's 1960s added or subtracted. Strong dance rhythm,
duets with fiddler Johnny Wilmot appear on clean playing on tremolo instrument.
Silver Apple's Wilmot CD.
TOM BYRNE
NOEL BATTLE Tom Byrne
Music From the Reeds CD A Donegal resident who grew up in Crewe,
The many-time All-Ireland champion from England, Byrne released a 2009 CD
Westmeath released this recording of produced (and played on) by fiddle star
classic tremolo-style playing, with Frankie Gavin. It features fast-paced,
accompaniment from pianist Brian McGrath, brilliant playing on chromatics. Byrne has a
in 2008. Battle’s style is similar to that of the powerful tone and superb technique and
Murphys, but he prefers slightly quicker shines on challenging Sean McGuire-style
tempos and plays exclusively in major keys hornpipe showpieces. His technique was
(at least on this CD). His repertoire is also evidently learned playing non-Irish music,
drawn more from tunes in the mainstream of however, so he used little or no traditional
contemporary Irish traditional music. ornamentation and did not venture to play in
jig rhythm.
JOEL BERNSTEIN
The Rashers (with Randal Bays), cassette EDDIE CLARKE
Pigtown Fling, Foxglove CD Crossroads (with Joe Ryan), Green Linnet
Joel, who lives in Seattle, performed with Sailing into Walpole's Marsh, Green Linnet
fiddler Randal Bays as “The Rashers.” His Unheard, CCÉ
chromatic playing in the Eddie Clarke style The late Eddie Clarke's music is required
is extraordinary and he also plays great listening for any would-be Irish chromatic
diatonic harmonica. The Rashers tape can harmonica player. A Dublin resident
be ordered from Joel at 3635 Burke N., originally from Virginia, County Cavan,
Seattle, WA 98103. The more recent Clarke pioneered the system of playing a
Pigtown Fling (and his old-timey duet with chromatic from the higher-pitched reed
fiddler Ruthie Dornfeld, Ways of the World) plate, using the slide for ornaments. He
can be ordered from Foxglove via their favored the cross-harp position and
website www.foxgloverecords.com. recorded most often in G# major and related
modal scales on a standard Hohner C
DONALD BLACK SuperChromonica. In his duets with Clare
West Winds, Greentrax CD and (with fiddler Joe Ryan, he matched Ryan so
Malcolm Jones) Close to Home closely that it's hard to distinguish the sound
(MacMeanmna) of the two instruments. The compilation
A Scotsman who plays mostly double- Sailing into Walpole's Marsh included two

26
solos and two duets with east Galway stylings and original compositions. But this
fiddler Maeve Donnelly. Clarke’s Green is an amazing alliance of diatonic and
Linnet LP tracks are available as digital chromatic virtuosi and the disc includes
downloads from various music websites. great demonstrations of most of the ways
Unheard, a new multi-CD set of recordings you can play Irish and American old-time
of Clarke’s harmonica playing and singing music on mouth organs. Available from
produced by Cavan fiddler Antóin Mac www.brendanpower.com
Gabhann (Tony Smith), was released in late
2009. BRYCE JOHNSTONE
Moothie (Smith/Mearns)
JAMES CONWAY Mostly waltzes, airs and marches from this
Mouth Box Scotsman. The cover photo shows him
www.jimmyconway.com holding one of the those rotating spindles
Conway is a Chicago musician who plays that hold several tremolo mouth organs of
many instruments in several styles, but on various keys.
this self-produced disc concentrates on Irish
harmonica. He plays mostly diatonic DONAL KAVANAGH
instruments, with a few tracks on a D A Dubliner and His Harmonica
chromatic, all with good rhythm and solid Kavanagh plays tremolo instruments in old-
Irish style. The disc also includes Conway's time Irish style. He also uses some
excellent tin whistle playing, guitar backing chromatics, but more as solo-tuned
from Martin Hayes' partner Dennis Cahill diatonics as he doesn’t much use the slide.
and a cameo appearance from harmonica His repertoire is heavy on airs, hornpipes
genius Howard Levy. The Chicago Jimmy and waltzes, all played with sparing use of
Conway is not the Australian one, a well- ornamentation but always in good rhythm.
known blues player down under. You can order Donal's CD for $16 (US) from
him at 61 Elizabeth Street, Aylmer, Quebec
TONY EYERS J9H 1E8
Black Mountain Harmonica
Australian diatonic player who uses his own MICK KINSELLA
tuning system, a variation on country tuning Harmonica, independent CD
that he calls “Major Cross.” Mick, a Dubliner with Wexford roots, is a
http://www.harmonicatunes.com/index.htm superb all-around harmonica player who
has mastered traditional blues style,
DAVID HERZHAFT Howard Levy overblows, jazz improvisation
Harmonica Celtique (Henry Lemoine - 41 and the Eddie Clarke approach to Irish
rue Bayen 75017 Paris) music on the chromatic harmonica. Mick
A book and CD from a French diatonic often uses a B chromatic to play in any key,
player with a background in blues and a truly chromatic approach that mirrors that
country. He plays Irish, Scottish, Quebec, of B/C button accordionists. His solo
French and Cape Breton tunes. The CD has recording includes traditional Irish tunes as
thirty pieces played in normal and slow well as original melodies, jazz, blues and
versions to aid the learner. Balkan music. Mick also appears as a guest
artist on recordings by Altan, Niamh
IRON LUNG Parsons and others. See also Iron Lung
Triple Harp Bypass
An all-star trio that includes Brendan Power, BRUNO KOWALCZYK
Mick Kinsella and Rick Epping, with help A French player who plays mostly Tombo
from guitarist Martin Dunlea. It’s an eclectic tremolo on tunes from Quebec and Ireland.
recording that is not purely Irish traditional
music, as there are a good deal of bluesy

27
KIERAN McHUGH Murphys can also be heard on some tracks
The Wind in the Reeds, independent of the fiddler Kevin Burke's recording Up
cassette Close (Green Linnet) and on a locally
An Antrim native who plays a tremolo distributed 1980s cassette, Traditional
diatonic instrument, McHugh managed the Music from South Wexford.
neat trick of playing on one reed plate and
covering the other with his lip, then BRENDAN POWER
switching to double-reed tremolo sound for New Irish Harmonica, Punch/Green Linnet
a fuller effect, much like a button Born in Kenya, raised in New Zealand and
accordionist switching couplers. He used now living in England, Power plays both
trumpet-style tongued triplets for diatonic and chromatic harmonicas in blues,
ornamentation. Irish, jazz, Balkan and other styles. He also
re-tunes instruments to his own patterns,
ARTHUR MIDDLETON including chromatics on which the two reed
Mouth Organ Maestro plates are set a whole tone rather than a
Harmonica Favourites (cassettes) half tone apart. His New Irish Harmonica
An Aberdeen native who plays diatonics for included some very traditional-style tracks
waltzes, airs, marches, schottisches and but others were free interpretations of Irish
other tunes. Another harmonica player, Bert music incorporating elements from
Burwood, joins on Harmonica Favourites American country and blues styles. Power is
along with piano, bass and drums. much in demand as a session player and
can be heard on River of Sound, Arcady's
PAUL MORAN Many Happy Returns, Altan's Blackwater
A Flying Start (with Fergal Scahill) and many other discs. He has other solo
independent CD, 2002 discs, and has recorded with Mick Kinsella
All-Ireland mouth organ and fiddle champs and Rick Epping as “Iron Lung” (see listing
from Corofin, County Galway, Paul Moran above). He has a CD-ROM tutorial available
and Fergal Scahill collaborated on this great from Madfortrad.com, and self-published
duet album that is the best example of tutors on playing Irish music on diatonic and
playing Irish music on a “country tuned” chromatic harmonicas. His recordings and
harmonica. Moran plays on Lee Oskar books are available through
“Melody Maker” instruments, which allow www.brendanpower.com
him to play major key tunes in “second
position” on a diatonic instrument. The ANDY O’SULLIVAN
instrument’s restricted range sometimes Amergin, Green Note CD
forces Moran to change octaves to find the A Kerry-based group that features Andy’s
necessary melody notes in some passages, Hohner CX-12 chromatic harmonicas in a
and he does not make use of the note- group with accordion, fiddle, banjo and
bending capabilities of the instrument. other instruments. His playing of Sliabh
Luachra tunes and barn dances is clean
THE MURPHYS and in good rhythm – the best feature of this
The Trip to Cullenstown, Claddagh CD CD.
The late Phil Murphy and his sons John and
Philip (“Pip”) from Bannow, Wexford formed JEAN SABOT (with Laurent Dacquay)
a celebrated Irish mouth organ trio in the Harmonica-Violon (Coop Breizh)
1980’s. The Murphys play mostly Oriental A harmonica/fiddle CD from Brittany
tremolo diatonics and favor relaxed tempos. featuring much Irish music that is
They make great use of chordal recommended highly by Steve Shaw.
accompaniment and play well-thought-out
arrangements with cleanly executed two-
hole ornaments and rock-solid rhythm. The

28
STEVE SHAW for Harmonica. See
Blowing Through the Reeds www.celticguitarmusic.com/celHarrm.htm
An independent recording of Irish, Scots
and English dance tunes and airs on DON WESSELS
diatonic harmonicas (Lee Oskar G, Hohner On Orkney
Special 20 low D), played at moderate Maine native Don Wessels is an ace
tempos with sparing use of ornamentation. guitarist who became obsessed with
Shaw tunes down his 2 draw reeds rather chromatic harmonica playing, and has
than the 3 blow reeds commonly altered in become one of the better Irish chromatic
“country tuning,” but to the same effect. players in the U.S. This privately issued CD
With Martin Cole on guitar, fiddle, mandolin was recorded in the Orkney Islands with
and vocals. Available directly from Shaw at local musicians and includes Scottish as
moorcot@msn.com. See his website at: well as Irish material. Visit his website at
http://mysite.wanadoo- www.donwessels.com
members.co.uk/trad_irish_harmonica
Recordings with some harmonica tracks
TONY “SULLY” SULLIVAN
Traditional Mouth Organ JAMES ANDREWS, DONALD DAVIDSON,
CD and tutor from the Manchester musician WILLIAM KEMP and THE SILVER CITY
better known as a tenor banjo player. See: HARMONICA BAND
www.halshawmusic.co.uk/mouth.html Sook and Blaw
A CD reissue of 78 rpm discs from the
JAMES THURGOOD Scottisj mouth organ players listed above as
Handy Little Rig: Celtic and Old-Time well as other free reed players.
Harmonica from the Maritimes (CD Baby)
A Nova Scotia native whose father came JAMES ANDREWS and JIMMY
from Cape Breton and mother from P.E.I., HIDDLESTONE
Thurgood was raised in Windsor, Ontario Bob Smith's Ideal Band, Topic LP
but now resides in Alberta. He plays Irish, Andrews and Hiddlestone recorded some
Scots and old-time North American tunes in tracks with this Glasgow band in the early
strict dance tempo using a simple, ten-hole '30s, including Andrews' tour de force
Hohner Pro-Harp in G. The “Celtic” tracks version of the “High Level Hornpipe,” on
are clean and in good rhythm, if a bit slower which he switches back and forth between
than is now popular, and without much use two diatonic harmonicas. The liner notes
of ornaments. His “old-time” tracks include a included a Scottish newspaper review of a
lot huffing and puffing and odd-sounding competition won by Andrews, with the
ornamental flourishes. The CD includes headline “Sookin' and Blawin'.”
extensive liner notes on harmonica styles
and players in the Maritimes. JOE BURKE
A Cape Bretoner who had some tracks on
MATT WALKATE The Gaelic Tradition in Cape Breton, vol 1,.
Harmonica and Flute a now-deleted Topic recording..
A home-made English recording featuring
diatonic and chromatic harmonica as well as PAUL DAVIS
flute and songs, with guitar, mandola and Armagh Pipers Club, The Song of the
bodhran accompaniment. Available from Chanter,
Matt at mtwalkate@btopenworld.com Outlet LP
A 1970s recording featuring members of the
GLENN WEISER Armagh Pipers Club. The late Paul Davis,
Author of several harmonica tutors, an Englishman who played flute and
including Irish and American Fiddle Tunes concertina on the album, had one great

29
track on harmonica, “Father Kelly's Reel,” also a great diatonic player for Irish and
which he played on a C chromatic, using “old-timey” American tunes.
Murphy-style rolls.
LARRY GRIFFIN
GERRY DONOGHER (or Danaher) Ballinasloe Fair, Traditional Crossroads CD
A Sligoman born in 1935 who learned his Larry, who played fine tongue-blocking
music from his father John, a fiddle player. chordal accompaniment to songs, can be
Recorded with the Coleman Country Ceili heard on tracks with Dan Sullivan's
Band for RTE and can be heard on The Shamrock Band and with singer Dinny
Living Tradition, released in 2000 by the “Jimmy” Doyle on this reissue collection of
Coleman Archive. Victor 78 rpm recordings.

RICK EPPING STEVE HICKMAN

Rick is an all-around free-reed man who Celtic Thunder, Green Linnet CD
often plays harmonica and concertina Steve plays on one track on Celtic
simultaneously. The first American to win an Thunder's first record, a great reel duet
All-Ireland mouth organ championship, Rick (“The Woman of the House/Paddy Lynn's
has toured with Frankie Gavin and with the Delight”) with flute player Linda Hickman.
harmonica trio Iron Lung (see listing above).
He is also the inventor of the Hohner ANDY IRVINE
“Extreme Bending” harmonica, an Andy is most famous for his singing and
instrument that gives crossharp stylists the bouzouki playing with Planxty and Patrick
ability to bend notes that can’t be altered in Street. But all of his solo and band discs
that way on a traditional harmonica. The include very tasty harmonica playing. His
1976 LP by the group Pumpkinhead harmonica is especially prominent on his
includes a very impressive solo track by classic 1970s duet disc with Paul Brady.
Rick on a country-tuned diatonic harmonica. Andy favors country-tuned diatonic
He has also recently recorded with Dervish instruments and often uses a shoulder rack
singer Cathy Jordan and Sligo guitarist and so that he can double on bouzouki.
harmonica player Seamie O’Dowd.
LARRY KINSELLA
LARRY FITZPATRICK The Irish Phonograph, EMI LP
Off to California, Advent LP This LP includes a 1938 track from Wexford
Larry was a native of Enniscorthy, County native Larry Kinsella, the first solo
Wexford who played three tracks (reels, harmonica player to record Irish music. It's a
flings and hornpipes) on this 1970s LP of superb rendering of the hornpipes “The
San Francisco Irish musicians. He was a Showman's Fancy” and “Pretty Maggie
spectacularly good player on a 10-hole Morrissey.”
standard diatonic, using vamping chords
and two-hole triplet ornaments. XAVIER LAUNE
French player with group Distant Shores.
MARK GRAHAM
Natural Selections, independent CD DON MEADE
with Kevin Burke and Open House: Open The author of this pamphlet has been
House; Second Story, Hoof and Mouth (all recorded on a few tracks on recordings by
Green Linnet) New York-based button accordionist and
Graham, another Seattle resident, played fiddler Tom Dunne, singer Susan McKeown
harmonica and clarinet in Open House, a and the Washington Square Harp and
now defunct band that also included the Shamrock Orchestra. A solo recording is in
fiddler Kevin Burke. Graham plays the works.
chromatics in the Eddie Clarke style and is

30
NOEL PEPPER FRED TOWNSEND
The Lark in the Clear Air, Topic/Ossian An Ottawa Valley player (father of fiddler
cassette Graham Townsend) who, according to the
Pepper, a Corkman living in England, notes to James Thurgood’s CD, recorded.
played diatonics with a huff-and-puff style
on several cuts of this compilation of “music REG WATKINS
on small instruments.” He soloed on slow A Newfoundland player who, according to
airs and played dance tunes with flutist the notes to James Thurgood’s CD,
Paddy Moran. recorded.

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 APPENDIX B: MODE CHART

Starting Notes for Modal Scales

Mixo-
Harmonica Mixo- lydian Dorian Major
Key Ionian Aeolian Dorian lydian 1st pos. 4th pos. 2nd pos.

C C A D G C A G

D D B E A D B A

G G E A D G E D

A A F# B E A F# E

Other names for modal scales:

Ionian do mode major scale, straight harp 1st position

Dorian re mode slant harp 3rd postion
Aeolian la mode natural minor scale 4th position
Mixolydian so mode cross harp 2nd position

The chart above illustrates the most Aeolian mode “fourth position,” but this
common modal scales used in Irish music, usage is not universal.
and the keys of the harmonicas on which
they can most easily be played. The last three columns illustrate positional
scales, each of which requires one note that
The Ionian mode is the familiar major scale. is not available on a standard diatonic
Playing in the major scale in which the harmonica. G major on a C harmonica
harmonica is pitched (e.g., C on a C (“Major in 2nd position”) can be played by
harmonica) is often called “straight harp” by raising the seventh note of the scale half a
blues players. Other modes use the same step, i.e., F# rather than F. A country-tuned
array of notes but start the scale in a diatonic is retuned to allow this. On a
different place. The Mixolydian mode, which chromatic instrument, the F# can be played
starts with so (G on a C harmonica), is the by using the slide.
well-known “cross-harp” scale favored by
blues and country sylists. The Dorian mode, “Mixolydian in 1st position” (e.g., a C scale
used extensively in Irish traditional music, with B flat) and “Dorian in 4th position” (e.g.,
starts on re (D on a C harmonica) instead of an A natural minor scale with C sharp) are
do. The Aeolian (natural minor) mode starts not spectacularly difficult on a chromatic
on la (A on a C harmonica). harmonica, as these scales include only one
note that must be played by using the slide.
Blues players over the years have referred On standard diatonic instruments, however,
to these modal positions by number. these positions are only playable with
“Straight harp” is known as “first position” Howard Levy-style “overblows” and
and “cross harp” as “second position.” By “overdraws.”.
extension, some blues players have called
the Dorian mode “third position” and the

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 APPENDIX C: HARMONICA HISTORY

Like the concertina and accordion, the same plane. Either blowing or drawing will
harmonica is a “free-reed” instrument, i.e., vibrate the reed, but it requires a resonating
one that produces sound from the passage chamber to make much of a sound, and the
of air over vibrating “reeds” that in modern pitch is partially dependent on the size and
instruments are actually thin metal strips. shape of that chamber. Kratzenstein’s reed
The reed in a saxophone or similar was slightly offset from reedplate, which
instrument is said to “beat” against the meant that it would sound only if blown or
cushion of air that separates it from the drawn upon in a single direction. But it
mouthpiece, while the double reeds in an would also sound without any additional
oboe mouthpiece or inside the chanter of resonator. This feature was crucial to the
the uilleann pipes beat against the air later construction of small mouth organs
cushioned between the two reeds. But free with reeds for many pitches. Russian organ
reeds don’t beat at all – they just vibrate in builder Franz Kirschnik adopted the new
mid-air. That vibration produces a tone by reed design to build the first reed organ
it’s effect on the air stream directed over it, (harmonium), an instrument that quickly
a stream that may be supplied by a bellows, spread to the rest of Europe in the late
as in an accordion, or by lung power, as 1700s and predates all other Western free-
with the harmonica. reed instruments.

Free-reed instruments, including the The first mouth-blown instrument to make

Chinese sheng and Laotian khaen (often use of the new-style free reeds was the
called Asian mouth organs or harmonicas) æolina (aka æoline or æolian). This name,
have been played since antiquity in the Far derived from Æolus, the Greek god of wind,
East. The reeds in these instruments are set has also been applied to other instruments,
into bamboo tubes that rise out of a wooden including a type of reed organ, but the
or gourd wind chamber. The player blows mouth-blown æolina, invented in the early
into a mouthpiece, which directs air into the 1820s, was a simple, uncovered plate on
tubes. Each tube has a hole in the side, which reeds tuned to various pitches were
which the player covers with a finger to mounted. The player sounded the reeds by
allow the reed within to sound. blowing directly on them. The earliest
æolinas had only blow reeds laid out in
Examples of the sheng were brought to chords, but more sophisticated versions
Europe in the 17th century and must have soon appeared.
had some influence on the creation of
Western free-reed instruments. But The German Æolian Tutor, published in
harmonica historian Pat Missin (see England in 1830, included illustrations (see
www.patmissin.com) has pointed out that below) of many different versions, including
modern European free reed instruments a two-octave chromatic model with the
really date from 1780, when Christian reedplate mounted on wood and on which a
Gottlieb Kratzenstein, a Danish professor of C diatonic scale could be played on blow
physiology, won a prize from the Imperial reeds and sharps and flats on draw reeds.
Academy of St. Petersburg in Russia for a The booklet also pictured an all-blow
“speaking machine” based on a free reed of “chromatic pandean aeolian” on which the
a different type than that used in Asian player pressed tabs on the sharp and flat
mouth organs. reeds to make them sound.

In sheng-type instruments, the reed is cut As the title of the English booklet makes
out of the reedplate itself and lies in the clear, the æolina was regarded as a

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“German” instrument. The concertina, Vienna rather than Berlin or Bohemia
invented by English scientist Charles seems to have been the real center of free-
Wheatstone circa 1829, is in fact the only reed development. One contributor was
major Western free-reed instrument musical clockmaker Georg Anton Reinlein,
developed outside of German-speaking who made both reed organs and early
central Europe, where many artisans were accordions. In 1828 he advertised in the
working on new mouth- and bellows-blown Wiener Zeitung a “newly designed two-
free-reed instruments in the 1820’s and 30s. octave Mund-harmonika on which one can
play not only chords but anything at all.”
Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann is Given the date, this may have been an
often cited as the inventor of the æolina, improved version of the æolina rather than a
which he called the Aura, in Berlin in 1821, more modern mouth organ.
as well as a some sort of improved mouth
organ in 1828. No examples survive, In 1834, Friedrich Thie, an immigrant from
however, and the only source for these Prussia, started making mouth organs in
claims is a book written by one of Vienna, where his son Wilhelm Anton Thie
Buschmann’s descendants at the height of (1833-1905) would go on to became a
Nazi-era German nationalism in 1938. major harmonica manufacturer. The
younger Thie’s “Wiener” tremolo design,
The modern harmonica’s “tin sandwich” which has important differences with
design has reedplates on the top and Richter’s, probably dates from the 1850s.
bottom of a chambered wooden or plastic The vast majority of diatonic harmonicas
“comb,” with metal cover plates protecting produced today are versions of either the
the exposed reeds. We don’t really know Richter or Thie design.
who made this design breakthrough, or
when and where such instruments were first Vogtland, which straddles the mountains
produced. Martin Häffner and Lars separating Bohemia from what was then the
Lindenmüller in their book Harmonica kingdom of Saxony, was another center of
Makers of Germany and Austria (published early mouth organ production. In the late
by the German Harmonica Museum), 1820s, violin maker Johann Georg Meisel
gathered a great deal of information, but and his partner Johann Langhammer began
many questions about early harmonica producing mouth organs of some sort in
history remain unanswered. Graslitz (now Kraslice), Bohemia. Around
the same time, Johann Wilhelm Rudolph
The most common type of harmonica Glier and his brothers started their own
played today, with a single blow and draw mouth organ workshop in Klingenthal on the
reed in each hole, is usually attributed to an Saxon side of the border. Eventually, over
inventor named Richter from Austrian-ruled 100 small manufacturers were making
Bohemia. Richter is a bit of a mystery man, mouth organs in the region. Klingenthal is
however, and we don’t even know his first still a center of harmonica and accordion
name or the date of his invention. Häffner production, led by Seydel, a firm founded in
and Lindenmüller cite an 1882 article in the 1847 and revived after German
Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau (Instrument reunification.
Maker’s Gazette), which listed a harmonica
maker named Joseph Richter, who founded Harmonica manufacturing also spread to
his business in Haida, Bohemia in 1828 and the southwestern German states. Furniture
relocated to Regensburg, Bavaria in 1867. maker Ignaz Hotz and his son Friedrich took
This may have been Richter the harmonica up Mundharmonika production in the mid-
inventor, but no trace of harmonica 1820s in Knittlingen, Baden, where they
production survives in any of the several developed the “Knittlinger” harmonica, an
Bohemian towns named Haida or Haidau. octave-tuned version of the Richter design.

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Around the same time, clockmaker Christian was Hohner who led the switch from hand
Messner started a harmonica business in craftsmanship to mass production,
Trossingen, Swabia, where his cousin absorbed most of the smaller German firms
Christian Weiss later set up his own firm. and became the world’s dominant
manufacturer. Hohner is still the undisputed
Matthias Hohner was a relative latecomer to world leader, but harmonicas are now
the business when he founded his own produced in great numbers by other makers
Trossingen firm in 1857, after having had a in China, Korea, Japan and Brazil.
chance to observe Weiss’ methods. But it

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www.patmissin.com/ history/aeolina.html

36