History of The Harmonica

The history of the harmonica dates back to an 1100 BC Chinese instrument called a Sheng, until the modern mouth organ debuted in 1820, rapidly spreading across Europe and the US. Beloved by vaudevillians, Hollywood westerns, blues musicians, and more.
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Today's Daily Dose short history film covers the history of harmonicas, which date back to 1100 B.C. China. The filmmaker has included the original voice over script to further assist your understanding:
Today on The Daily Dose, The History of Harmonicas.
Known affectionately as the mouth organ or blues harp or tin sandwich, the lowly harmonica harkens back to 1100 B.C. China, when musicians invented the sheng, which was originally a bundle of bamboo tubes attached to a curving pipe. The instrument contained a free reed, and a strip of flexible metal that flapped up and down when a player blew through the mouth piece of the curving pipe, which in turn created musical tones. Yet most historians peg the roots of the modern harmonica to Dutch physician and physicist Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein, whose 1750 invention of the “vowel organ” or “talking machine” employed a free reed in an attempt to model the mechanics of human speech.
Over the next hundred years, inventors shrunk down Kratzenstein’s original invention into creations such as the Terpodion and Harmonium, until the mouth organ made its first appearance in 1820, which spread rapidly across Europe before arriving into the United States. German clock salesman Matthias Hohner formed his namesake company in 1857, at first selling his pocket-sized harmonicas to German immigrants in the American South, eventually morphing into the largest harmonica manufacturer in the world. The mouth organ’s preeminence came between the two world wars, when vaudevillians employed the highly portable instrument to add music to their acts, while Hollywood westerns put the tin sandwich between the lips of movie star cowboys. The blues became the natural home of the harmonica, while more recent musicians such as Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift and Blues Traveler included the timeless sounds of the mouth organ in many of their songs, making the harmonica one of the most intuitive and arguably the smallest instrument in the world of modern music.
And there you have it, the history of harmonicas, today on The Daily Dose.

[@shinninglightministry7050]

Anyone?

[@jaconnelinley7469]

Hey!

[@kishascape]

I have a Blues Harp. Nice wood comb and very durable.

[@joeltarah5637]

Everyone.

[@Republic_Of_Vicoria_Official]

Hello my friend. I have a vintage 1996 Mississippi Harmonica. Sounds pretty good.

[@kishascape]

I also just got a Hohner Little Lady recently. Mini 4 hole with wooden comb also :3 for playing christmas music this winter.

[@WAHAW2024]

Very good documentary.I like this.

[@peefart1410]

Why are there no comments?