Learning To Reed
17 posts
Oct 03, 2011
11:16 PM
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Based on the newness and availability of harmonicas in the USA, is it even possible that cowboys would have been able to easily purchase and play the harmonica?
According to this article from Pat Missin, it looks like Hohner didn't actually step up production until 1880.
Who invented the harmonica?
Just curious since the harmonica seems to be often associated with cowboys and campfires. :)
I also find it interesting that Pat's article also points out that chromatics were invented AFTER diatonics, yet it seems that today it's the older generation who are playing chromatics, and diatonics are associated with the younger players for blues and such. I'm sure this probably has more to do with the style of music that the chromatic harmonica lends itself well to (versus the diatonic), than it does with the age of the players. Didn't SPAH start as a convention mainly for chromatic players, the guys who were playing the newer harmonicas? :) And then didn't Madcat, a new guy playing the original richter harmonica, change things? :)
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ricanefan
113 posts
Oct 03, 2011
11:39 PM
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There have been many cowboys since 1880; I'm sure some of them have played harmonica - enough to feed the stereotype.
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Learning To Reed
18 posts
Oct 03, 2011
11:52 PM
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I'm sure it's possible that some of them may have played it. I'm just wondering if it was as popular as what we've seen in the old cowboy movies, and more of a question of how available or accessible would harmonicas have been at that time? And by cowboys, I guess I'm referring to cowboys that were around in the days before cars.
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nacoran
4702 posts
Oct 04, 2011
12:35 AM
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I don't know for sure, but people (myself included) seem to have a historical bias that makes us guess that the cowboy era ended much earlier than it did. Every now and then I have to hit the stacks and refresh my memory.
There were still range wars going on in the 1890's and a border war with Mexico and Pancho Villa that didn't end until 1918.
That would certainly give them time to get harmonicas. Also remember that Hohner isn't even the oldest harmonica company around. Seydel is older and that's just companies that survived.
According to Wikipedia:
"Shortly after Hohner began manufacturing harmonicas in 1857, he shipped some to relatives who had emigrated to the United States. Its music rapidly became popular, and the country became an enormous market for Hohner's goods. President Abraham Lincoln carried a harmonica in his pocket,[7] and harmonicas provided solace to soldiers on both the Union and Confederate sides of the American Civil War. Frontiersmen Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid played the instrument, and it became a fixture of the American musical landscape."
Billy the Kid (depending on what version of his life you believe) died smack in the middle of the cowboy era. Wyatt Earp lived a long life, and I can't find anything stating he played it early on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonica#Europe_and_North_America
And of course there is this:
http://www.harp-l.org/pipermail/harp-l/2009-February/msg00551.html
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Nate
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Steamrollin Stan
69 posts
Oct 04, 2011
1:16 AM
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I'm a cowboy from the 70's...... my first campfire song was O'suzanna and Home on the range, then 30 years later i saw this dude at the pub playin something behind a mic and my mate said it's a harmonica,.....i then left the cowboy scene and packed up my saddle and brought a Harley Davidson shovel etc etc. But i still like to do the camfire thing, which aint that often these days.
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DanP
231 posts
Oct 04, 2011
7:09 AM
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Harmonicas were very much available during the cowboy era which didn't really start until after the Civil War when huge herds of cattle were being driven to markets in Kansas City and other midwestern cities. There were more real cowboys between 1880 and 1900 than in any other period. And yes, many cowboys carried harmonicas because they were cheap and available (about every general store sold them) and very portable and they broke the boredom somewhat.
I watched a western recently that took place in the 1880s and showed a chromatic harmonica being played. That is an anachronism. The chromatic harmonica was not invented until about 1910 and were not sold until about 1920.
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Todd Parrott
729 posts
Oct 04, 2011
7:20 AM
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@DanP - that's right, I never thought of that... and come to think of it, the chromatic is what you hear most often in the background music of the old western shows.
I've seen and heard tremolos too. I wonder when those came along?
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Greyowlphotoart
835 posts
Oct 04, 2011
8:19 AM
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It's sundown in Dodge City, the street's deserted as all the townsfolk have dived for cover.
A bundle of tumbleweed rolls by kicking up the dust.
The kid stands at one end of the street, 12 harps glistening in the sun cradled in the bullet belt slung across his shoulder. In a mirror image at the other end of the street stands the Old Timer.
The grizzled old boy barks out 'go for your Ab' and in the blink of an eye the kid has nudged out the harp from the belt and into his mouth, the harp still smokin'after a blistering fast rendition of 'O Susanna'
The Old timer smiles as he eases his way steadily to the end of the song and says to the Kid 'You ain't ready for me yet boy, you were a might too hasty there cuz that sounded like a G harp to me.
The Kid shuffles despondently out of town into the sunset.
THE END..... Roll credits....-3+4-4-3+4-3**-3-2-3**
Grey Owl YouTube
Grey Owl Abstract Photos
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Steamrollin Stan
70 posts
Oct 04, 2011
8:38 AM
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@Greyowl, that is quite an imagination you have, it fits in well for this blog, i'm impressed!!! (Is that a harp in ya pocket or are you just pleased to see me?)
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LIP RIPPER
503 posts
Oct 04, 2011
8:40 AM
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It's not unusual to see men wearing spurs on their boots down here in south Florida. Still cowboys and still indians only the indians own the casinos and only camp once a year during thanksgiving. It's a big deal for them but they ride four wheelers at camp, not horses.
LR
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GEEZER1
125 posts
Oct 04, 2011
9:51 AM
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You darn tooting we played our French harps on the Trail. I bought mine from a walking peddler , he worked the cattle drives. We had a lot of fun playing for the boys around our campfires. Ahh the good old days back there in the late eighteen hundreds. We taught the injuns how to play , you shouda seen them dancing with them french harps in their mouths .
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WinslowYerxa
75 posts
Oct 04, 2011
10:11 AM
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The stuff cited from Wikipedia is the usual collection of oft-repeated tales that can't be verified but that are accepted uncriitically as fact solely because they are repeated again and again.
The fact is that Hohner marketed internationally in an orderly, businesslike fashion, not by casual relationships, and were very aggressive about it - that's one of the main reasons for their success. Very long books have been written about this in German, and some of it has been translated into English. Look for stuff by Hartmut Berghoff if you're interested.
Hohner set up shop in the US in 1868, and their production didn't ramp up significantly until sometime in the 1870s, with exponential increases in output through the rest of the 19th century.
It's probably true that the cowboy era - and, just as important, the media's romanticization of the cowboy life and the fast-vanishing wild west near the turn of the century - lasted long enough for the harmonica to become a part of it.
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groyster1
1465 posts
Oct 04, 2011
10:22 AM
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theres a part in rio bravo with dean martin singing rick nelson playing guitar and singing and walter brennan blowin` harp with the duke grinning from ear to ear
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Learning To Reed
20 posts
Oct 04, 2011
10:31 AM
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Interesting!
So does anybody know about Seydel availabilty around that same time? I wonder if they were as common as Hohners?
And what about my SPAH question? Does anyone else find that a little ironic? Just curious...
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Lmbrjak
61 posts
Oct 04, 2011
6:25 PM
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I have a cousin who has found a lot of harmonicas around old logging camp sites in northern Michigan.Most of the camps were active from around 1880 until around 1910. There were guys who went camp to camp,gave a little concert,then sold harps to the workers.
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gene
940 posts
Oct 04, 2011
8:28 PM
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FAIL :(
I've been trying to be a smart-ass, looking for pics or info about one of the Dallas Cowboys playing harp. No luck.
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Gnarly
95 posts
Oct 04, 2011
11:03 PM
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North Dallas XB-40?
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WinslowYerxa
77 posts
Oct 05, 2011
1:20 AM
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Seydel's big overseas marketing success was in Australia, not so much in the Americas (think of the Boomerang harmonica).
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Stickman
703 posts
Oct 06, 2011
11:37 AM
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Hey Dave! That was a crazy cool picture. Thanks for the history.
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Learning To Reed
30 posts
Oct 06, 2011
5:23 PM
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A very interesting read, Dave! Thanks very much for the info.
On a separate note, I was reading today that the rifle Chuck Connors used on the show, "The Rifleman," was also an anachronism. He used a modified Winchester Model 1892, though the show was set in the 1880's. :) Anyone else remember/like that old show?
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nacoran
4707 posts
Oct 06, 2011
5:43 PM
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Perpendicular reeds! I've been wondering if that would work myself. :) Great post as always Mr. Payne!
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Nate
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Todd Parrott
740 posts
Oct 06, 2011
6:25 PM
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Yes, great post Dave!
The Rifleman? That's a blast from the past. :)
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GEEZER1
126 posts
Oct 07, 2011
11:24 AM
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"The Rifleman"
starring Chuck Connors
a Four Star-Sussex Production Levy-Gardner-Laven Productions
words by Alfred Perry, ASCAP Music by Herschel Burke Gilbert, _______________________________________________________ASCAP
Verse 1. HE IS NO STRANGER TO THE SETTLERS
AND THE BAD MEN KNOW HIS FAME
THEY SPEAK OF HIM IN WHISPERS
BUT THEY NEVER USE HIS NAME
Chorus: THEY CALL HIM THE RIFLEMAN,
THE STRONG, COURAGEOUS RIFLEMAN
A GREAT BIG MOUNTAIN OF A MAN.
Verse 2. HE NEVER REACHES FOR HIS RIFLE
EXCEPT WHEN HE'S ATTACKED.
HE RECKONS THERE'S A TIME TO SPEAK
AND THERE'S A TIME TO ACT.
Chorus: THEY CALL HIM THE RIFLEMAN
THE STRONG, COURAGEOUS RIFLEMAN
A GREAT BIG MOUNTAIN OF A MAN.
Verse 3. THEY KNOW THAT WHEN IT COMES TO
MARKSMANSHIP
HE'S BETTER THAN THE BEST.
STILL, SOME-ONE'S ALWAY FOOL
ENOUGH TO PUT HIM TO THE TEST.
Chorus: THEY CALL HIM THE RIFLEMAN
THE STRONG, COURAGEOUS RIFLEMAN
A GREAT BIG MOUNTAIN OF A MAN.
Verse 4. TO EVERY LAD WHO COMES TO HIM
TO LEARN THE SECRET OF HIS ART
HE TELLS THEM THERE'S NO MEDICINE
TO HEAL A COWARD'S HEART.
Chorus: THEY CALL HIM THE RIFLEMAN
THE STRONG, COURAGEOUS RIFLEMAN
A GREAT BIG MOUNTAIN OF A MAN.
Verse 5. THERE IS A MORAL TO HIS EXPLOITS
AND HE'S TAUGHT IT TO HIS SON
SPEAK SOFTLY TO YOUR ENEMY
BUT LET HIM SEE YOUR GUN!
Chorus: THEY CALL HIM THE RIFLEMAN
THE STRONG, COURAGEOUS RIFLEMAN
A GREAT BIG MOUNTAIN OF A MAN.
That was a long time ago
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ElkRiverHarmonicas
742 posts
Oct 13, 2011
2:48 PM
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Anybody know if the perpendicular reed was ever tried? It doesn't sound like something that would work to me. At the time the patent was applied for, Rauner-Seydel-Boehm was working to find a way to cut costs, the design looks to me like a way to make the process more automated.
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David
Elk River Harmonicas
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"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." - Lewis Grizzard
"Also, drinking homemade beer." - David Payne
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nacoran
4760 posts
Oct 13, 2011
4:29 PM
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David, I was just pondering the same question over in the XB-40 thread. I'd considered trying accordion reeds since they come on their own reed plate (or what I thought were accordion reeds, the image I saw in some online picture that got me thinking only had one reed on the plate and apparently accordions have two. They also apparently use a grade of steel that wouldn't be good with the moisture in a harmonica.) (Thanks again Winslow, for that information.) :)
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Nate
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