“I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandanna,
I was playing soft while Bobby sang the blues.
Windshield wipers slapping time, I was holding Bobby’s hand in mine,
We sang every song that driver knew.”
While I doubt I could sing up every song you know, I do try to play the harmonica. The harmonica is a iconic musical instrument that has appeared in numerous songs. Its fitting though that as I sit here and write this article about playing the harmonica, I am about an hour away from Trossingen, Germany, home of the Hohner harmonica company! Maybe I will get some inspiration to play better. They also have a harmonica museum, which I will try to visit before my time is up here.
I received a lovely little harmonica right before I left for Germany from Phil Douglass over atwww.campfirecompanion.com I brought it to Germany with me, and it has been my companion. Like Phil says, it is lightweight, compact and easy to play anywhere. My 8 year old little girl took to it instantly. She was playing Red River Valley in just a couple of minutes, almost better than I could, and I have had a few more lessons than her! While anyone can pick up a harmonica and play it, there is some skill required to make music out of it. As Delbert McClinton says though, “Its hard to say how to play the harmonica, cause you can’t show it. Its a technique you just pick up. After a while, you fool around with it and just figure it out!” Hopefully this learning curve is not very long. Ive been fooling around with it for a while now and do not feel like I have progressed much.
In keeping with Phil’s theme of music and pictures, I made a small video of some pictures in the Schlossplatz in Stuttgart, Germany, with a few beats of my harmonica playing. John Popper I am not. The first part is just me messing around with a whaling sound, and the second half is me playing some of Red River Valley, one of the songs that Phil teaches.
Along with the harmonica, Phil provided a DVD, and a small plastic black case for storing the harmonica. The DVD is great, though I thought I would be playing it just like Phil does right outta the box, I still have lots of work to do. The DVD covers very basic techniques to play the harmonica and does a great job of explaining these techniques. One is to pucker my lips as in whistling, and the other is to use my tongue to cover the holes while I play. The tongue technique is much harder than puckering my lips, though I still have problems making one single note when puckering my lips.
The Harmonica itself is a standard style harmonica in the tune of C. There are 10 holes on the front that I can blow air into or draw air from to make 20 different notes. It has Campfire Companion stamped on the top and bottom along with the name of the website. It is lightweight, and I can take it anywhere. So far I have not had any problems with saliva build up, and I do not remember if this is something Phil mentions in the DVD or not. But with any instrument that is played by mouth, saliva could be a problem and the harmonica seems to dry out fine.
Overall this harmonica is fun and easy to play, and I cant wait to get back home and be able to sit around the campfire with my little one as we play it together.
Of course one day I might play like this. We can all dream…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpMi9lDiLG4
Brian T
1 Feb 2010 update
“The function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought”
Sir Thomas Beecham
English conductor (1879 – 1961)
Well I’m back from Germany and I never did get to make it down to the town of Trossingen, Germany, and the Hohner harmonica company. I did play some more on the little harp, and improved a wee bit. Since I have been home though, my little girl has taken to playing the harp again, though she cant find hers. As far as the Campfire Companion harmonica goes, it is a great little harmonica. I was worried that playing it and then storing it “wet” in the box would cause some problems. This is not the case at all. I was worried that the spit build up might “do something” (yeah a technical term there) to the reeds inside but alas it did not.
I like to play music and have been playing guitar for a few years now. 4 months away from my guitar made me rusty but the harp filled this need to make music. Unlike my guitar which is big and bulky, this little musical instrument could go anywhere. I threw it in my bag on day trips and in my back pocket when needed.
The DVD teaches very basic notes on the harp. I would have liked an intermediate stage as well where he started teaching a few basic chords played with the harp or at least talked a bit about it. Phil plays some more advanced techniques that makes me long to play more than a few notes at a time.
Overall this harp is awesome. Its neat to be able to pick up something and make music though some would call it noise.
Check back in a few to see how I progress.
Brian T
[...] Campfire Companion Harmonica [...]