GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT HARMONIAS AND THEIR HISTORY

It was invented in 1821. Especially in the 20th century, with the contribution of master performers, this instrument gained rich sound possibilities and began to take its place in classical music orchestras under the name of mouth organ.

The mouth harmonica is a small musical instrument in the wind instrument family, shaped like a long and flat box. As in all wind instruments, the mouth harmonica has a series of metal plates that vibrate under the effect of the blown air and produce different tones. These plates are placed in separate grooves inside the wooden box, and the lower and upper surfaces of the box are also covered with protective metal plates. The person who will play the mouth harmonica presses his lips against the holes on the front of the instrument and creates an air current inside the box by blowing or drawing air in. This air current pushes the metal plates, allowing them to vibrate freely from side to side.

The simplest examples of mouth harmonicas today only play a scale over seven notes. However, more advanced chromatic mouth harmonicas can also produce the sharp and flat semitones of the diatonic scale. These chromatic mouth harmonicas, also called pump mouth harmonicas because they have a manually operated piston, produce a seven-note scale when the piston is not pressed, and a 12-note scale tuned in semitones when it is pressed.