a wide ranging instrument

All our instruments series, episode 15

Next up is another harmonica - we've had this one since the early noughties, but I don't quite remember how it came into the family. I'm quite sure I didn't buy it, but may have been a present the children received from their grandparents.

The writing on it says Bontempi Classic - Made in China, so that was all I knew about it. Wikipedia tells me that Bontempi is actually an Italian company founded in 1937 and famous for cheap instruments and musical toys. They still have a harmonica that looks exactly like ours.



Looking at it now for this series, to figure out what it can do, I realised it has an amazing range, covering a C major scale over 3 octaves and a bit from a low C to a squeaky E (plus, weirdly, the G below the beginning of the scale). That's more than I can do on my flute, although I believe proper flautists can also reach the fourth octave E with extended techniques. Unfortunately, the arrangement of notes obtained from inward vs. outward airflow appears to be a bit illogical, or at least different from what I am used to with my lovely Hohner Echo harmonica, so whenever I try to play something on this one, the attempt ends in confusion. So in the video I just demonstrate the range. I do wonder what you would want the range for ... (maybe two musicians getting along really well could play a duet cheek by jowl?)





PS This is the third harmonica in this series and you'll be relieved to learn that it also the last one - I only have these three and have no plans to buy any more.

echo of my heart

All our instruments series, episode 8

Here comes an instrument I am really quite fond of, my Hohner Echo harp in G and C (you just flip it around to change the key). Not sure when or how I got it but I must have had it for at least 40 years. Recently I checked the web and found that Hohner are still selling the same model, and even the cardboard box looks the same.



I now carry this in my bag as an emergency musical instrument (you never know, there might be rodents to catch or people to scare away), so I had it with me when on my recent travel I climbed on top of one of the many Bismarck towers in Germany, and recorded my video right there (but the internet connection in the sticks was rubbish, so I couldn't upload it and had to skip a week in this series). I am, again, making a mess of Fisterra, need to practice this for our sessions, which no longer have a regular melodeon playern, and the tune wants some metal reeds. Anyhow, here goes:

blow along

All our instruments series, episode 5

I've had my Hohner Piccolo harp for longer than I can remember, could be up to half a century, but I never quite got the hang of it. The spacing between the channels is a bit too narrow for my big mouth, so I tend to get more notes than I want to play. (Also, you need to breathe in for some of the notes, which can make playing a bit unpleasant, as you end up with the metal taste in your mouth.)



But the web assures me that it is a proper instrument and there are people out there who can make proper music with it, such as this guy who wrote a review of it on his harmonica website. He says it's only available in C, but mine is in G. The design, however, hasn't changed in all those years.

One of the things I may have attempted to play way back when is Neil Young's Heart of Gold. Looking that up on YouTube, I found an ancient video of Neil Young playing live in 1971, which is hilarious for two reasons. First he apologises for all those new songs that nobody knows, of which Heart of Gold was another example, which is ironic because it became a classic about three minutes later. And then, after a few minutes spent finding the harmonica in the right key, he says, "This one's in G, if anybody wants to blow along with me." Don't mind if I do, so here's my warm-up:



further down the line there will be bigger harmonicas, big enough for me to play an actual tune on them.