Take a close look at the instrument in the picture above. It is called a mouth organ, or harmonica. This kind of instrument was invented in Europe about 150 years ago. Can you think how the mouth organ makes a musical sound? Each tiny hole has two metal reeds next to it, one short and one longer. When you blow into the holes, the reeds vibrate. Short reeds make high notes, longer ones make lower notes. These are called ‘free reeds‘ because they are free to vibrate up and down.

Playing the mouth organ

You hold the instrument so that the low notes are to your left. Try to blow just one single note by blocking the other holes to the side with your tongue. What happens when you suck? If you don’t move your mouth, you will hear a different note. That’s because you activate the second reed by sucking instead of blowing.

The sheng from China

Mouth organs have been played in China for thousands of years, where they are called shengs. Shengs are very different from the European mouth organ. They have long pipes and each has a free reed inside. The sheng player blows and sucks air through a wind box to play the same note, with different pitches. The reeds vibrate when the holes are closed.

Famous players

Some harmonicas are designed to play very complicated music. One man who became a virtuoso, or expert, on the harmonica was the American musician Larry Adler. He wanted to show that the harmonica deserved to be taken seriously as a musical instrument. The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote a piece of harmonica music especially for Larry Adler.

The mouth organ is also an ideal instrument for folk and blues music. It has a mournful sound that goes very well with a solo voice. The famous American folk singer Bob Dylan is well known for his mouth organ playing. This frees his hands so that he can play the guitar and the mouth organ at the same time!

The melodica

The instrument in the picture below is a melodica. It is a new kind of free-reed instrument, invented only 30 years ago. The body is made of plastic. The metal reeds are controlled by a tiny keyboard. Melodicas are cheap to buy and easy to play.

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dodoBlues, Guitar1 Nov, 2008