SoulPressure
3 posts
Mar 22, 2009
11:32 PM
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Hello everybody, I am and Art and design student as well and a harp enthusiast.( been playing for roughly a year now, no good at all but its still wonderful). I am writing a thesis project for a class called History of Material culture. I know a bit about the the harp and where it came from but I need more then what I've got. I need to know how what instruments the harp evolved from where they came from and how they were made. I am looking for books and interviews, discussion over the internet or phone or possible in person.
So to start does anyone know of any books or people I should get into contact with?
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Aussiesucker
202 posts
Mar 22, 2009
11:45 PM
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A good place to start is on Brendan Powers site as he has lots of You tube vids of Harmonica History ie I think its called the Tin Sandwich.
Also patmissin.com has a section explaining the history of free reed instruments.
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oldwailer
613 posts
Mar 23, 2009
12:13 AM
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Pick up a copy of "Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy Breathers--" The information is about ten years old, but it's pretty good chronicle of Harps in general--fun to read too. . .
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MrVerylongusername
201 posts
Mar 23, 2009
2:27 AM
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Unfortunately there is very little published on this subject. Online references are probably the way forward.
Aussiesucker is right, it's pretty much all on Pat Missin's website. The harmonica's roots are with far Eastern intruments like the China's Sheng and Thailand's Khaen. You might want to look at Hohner's site and Seydel's too. They've probably got historical info on the early days.
I think your biggest problem will be that a lot of information just wasn't documented so is now lost to time. There's a lot of 'best guessing'.
Be cautious when using Wikipaedia and sources that derive from it - any reference to someone called Natalie Ann Cumins is the result of vandalism to the wiki. Some sites are still mirroring the misinformation even though it has now been corrected in the main article. Apparently she's a high school student, not the 19th century inventor of the harmonica!
The Kim Field book Oldwailer mentions is a great read. I recall it concentrating more on the players than the instrument, but there was a brief history of the harmonica at the beginning.
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Spl20
18 posts
Mar 23, 2009
8:08 AM
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This YouTube Vid was interesting on the history of harmonica with demos of the different reed instruments evolution. See what ya think!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVvQfeI4mzA
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isaacullah
123 posts
Mar 23, 2009
9:19 AM
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Ditto on Pat Missin's site. It's the best current internet source out there, and will give you plenty to go on. Also, he references his stuff, so it's a better resource for scholarly writing than most websites are. Also, instead of searching "harmonica history", you may get more results searching "free reed instruments hostory". This will lead you to the full evolution and branching of instruments in the harmonica family.
Just out of curiosity, where are you a student at? I'ma PhD student at Arizona State University, studying archaeology. We have a great museum studies program in our department here, and one of the most important class for them is also Material Culture.
Cheers,
Isaac
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The magnificent YouTube channel of the internet user known as "isaacullah"
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snakes
138 posts
Mar 23, 2009
4:12 PM
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I agree with oldwailer. I own a copy of "Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy Breathers--" by Kim Field. He goes way back to the early asian dynasty days to discuss the free reed nature of the instrument. He then chronicles everything from the rise of Hohner to every specific harmonica player in most of the different genres. If you got time this is the book you need.
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mickil
117 posts
Mar 23, 2009
4:51 PM
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Just to add to what MrV and others have said, when I was at college, one of our lecturers once said that the harmonica was derived - if memory serves - from a Japanese instrument called a sho. Though, I've not researched the truth or otherwise of this.
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'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
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eharp
240 posts
Mar 23, 2009
5:52 PM
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mickil- is that why the harp has sole?
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Aussiesucker
204 posts
Mar 24, 2009
2:39 PM
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mickil> re the Japanese instrument I was recently travelling in Australia and happened to be in a town that has strong wartime ties with Japan & there was a large Japanese Festival being held. There were a couple of Japanese guys playing a wooden (bamboo) instrument that had reeds that worked both sucking & blowing. It sounded close to a harmonica. They also had to warm the instrument up over a small candle before it would play. To me it was obvious that it was a traditional primitive type of instrument. I tried to strike up a conversation to get more info but I didn't speak Japanese & they didn't understand English. So I left wondering? Perhaps another forum member might know?
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Aussiesucker
205 posts
Mar 24, 2009
6:20 PM
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MrVLUN - thanks. Yes, that is exactly what I saw them playing. Could not see any reference though to the warming of the instrument over a small flame. It almost seemed ceremonial however I suspect that it may have the same effect as tapping the harmonica after playing ie to dry it out?
Last Edited by on Mar 24, 2009 6:38 PM
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