Editing Harmonica (section)

==History==
The harmonica was developed in Europe in the early part of the 19th century. Free-reed instruments like the Chinese [[sheng (instrument)|sheng]] had been fairly common in East Asia since ancient times. They became relatively well known in Europe after being introduced by the French Jesuit [[Jean Joseph Marie Amiot]] (1718–1793), who lived in [[Qianlong Emperor|Qing-era]] China.<ref name="The Encyclopedia of the Harmonica">[http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/NewDesign/fintro.files/bintro.files/operas/Indes_galantes_Les%28The_Gallant_Indies%29.htm "Indes galantes, Les (The Gallant Indies,"] Naxos.com website (accessed 1 September 2016).</ref> Around 1820, free-reed designs began being created in Europe. [[Christian Buschmann|Christian Friedrich Ludwig Buschmann]] is often cited as the inventor of the harmonica in 1821, but other inventors developed similar instruments at the same time.<ref>[[Conny Restle]]: In aller Munde, S. 43, Staatl. Institut für Musikforschung, Berlin 2003.</ref> In 1829, [[Charles Wheatstone]] developed a mouth-organ under the name "Aeolina" (inspired by the [[Aeolian harp]]).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year=1930 |title=Aeolina |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia Britannica]] |edition=14|volume=1|page=222 |language=en}}</ref> Mouth-blown free-reed instruments appeared in the United States, South America, the United Kingdom and Europe at roughly the same time. These instruments were made for playing classical music.

===Early instruments===
The harmonica first appeared in Vienna, where harmonicas with chambers were sold before 1824 (see also [[Anton Reinlein]] and [[Anton Haeckl]]). Richter tuning, invented by Joseph Richter (who also is credited with inventing the blow and draw mechanism), was created in 1826 and was eventually adopted nearly universally. In Germany, violin manufacturer [[Johann Georg Meisel]] from [[Klingenthal]] bought a harmonica with chambers (Kanzellen) at an exhibition in [[Braunschweig]] in 1824. He and the ironworker Langhammer copied the instruments in [[Kraslice|Graslitz]] three miles away; by 1827 they had produced hundreds of harmonicas. Many others followed in Germany and also nearby [[Bohemia]] that would later become [[Czechoslovakia]]. In 1829, Johann Wilhelm Rudolph Glier also began making harmonicas.

In 1830, Christian Messner, a cloth maker and weaver from [[Trossingen]], copied a harmonica his neighbour had brought from Vienna. He had such success that eventually his brother and some relatives also started to make harmonicas. From 1840, his nephew Christian Weiss was also involved in the business. By 1855, there were at least three harmonica-making businesses: [[C. A. Seydel Söhne]], [[Christian Messner]] & Co., and Württ. Harmonikafabrik Ch. Weiss. (Currently, only [[C. A. Seydel Söhne|C.A. Seydel]] is still in business.) Owing to competition between the harmonica factories in Trossingen and Klingenthal, machines were invented to punch the covers for the reeds.

In 1857, Matthias Hohner, a clockmaker from Trossingen, started producing harmonicas. Eventually he became the first to mass-produce them. He used a mass-produced wooden comb that he had made by machine-cutting firms. By 1868, he began supplying the United States. By the 1920s, the diatonic harmonica had largely reached its modern form. Other types followed soon thereafter, including the various tremolo and [[octave]] harmonicas.

By the late 19th century, harmonica production was a big business, having evolved into mass production. New designs were still developed in the 20th century, including the chromatic harmonica, first made by Hohner in 1924, the bass harmonica, and the chord harmonica. In the 21st century, radical new designs have been developed and are still being introduced into the market, such as the [[Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation|Suzuki]] Overdrive, Hohner XB-40, and the ill-fated Harrison B-Radical.

Diatonic harmonicas were designed primarily for playing German and other European [[folk music]] and have succeeded well in those styles. Over time, the basic design and tuning proved adaptable to other types of music such as the blues, [[country music|country]], old-time and more. The harmonica was a success almost from the very start of production, and while the center of the harmonica business has shifted from Germany, the output of the various harmonica manufacturers is still very high. Major companies are now found in Germany ([[:de:C. A. Seydel Söhne|Seydel]] and [[Hohner]] – the dominant manufacturer in the world), South Korea ([[Miwha]], [[Dabell]]), Japan ([[Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation|Suzuki]], [[Tombo Musical Instrument Company|Tombo]] – the manufacturer of the popular [[Lee Oskar]] harmonica, and [[Yamaha Corporation|Yamaha]] also made harmonicas until the 1970s), China (Huang, Easttop, Johnson, Leo Shi, Swan, AXL), and [[Brazil]] (Hering, Bends). The United States had two significant harmonica manufacturers, and both were based in [[Union Township, Union County, New Jersey|Union, New Jersey]]. One was [[Magnus Harmonica Corporation]], whose founder Finn Magnus is credited with the development of plastic harmonica reeds. The other was Wm. Kratt Company, which, founded by German-American William Jacob "Bill" Kratt Sr., originally made pitch pipes and later, in 1952, secured a patent for combs made of plastic. Both companies ceased harmonica production. The only recent American contender in the harmonica market was Harrison Harmonicas, which folded in July 2011. It was announced soon thereafter that the rights to the Harrison design had been sold to another company to finish production of orders already placed. In October 2012, it was revealed that a [[Beloit, Wisconsin]], investment corporation, R&R Opportunities, had bought the assets of Harrison Harmonicas and that a feasibility study was under way to assess the possibilities of continued production of the Harrison B-Radical harmonica. Recently, responding to increasingly demanding performance techniques, the market for high-quality instruments has grown.

===Europe and North America===
Some time before Hohner began manufacturing harmonicas in 1857, he shipped some to relatives who had emigrated to the United States. Its music rapidly became popular, and the country became an enormous market for Hohner's goods. US president [[Abraham Lincoln]] carried a harmonica in his pocket,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hohner.de/ahistory.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127182041/http://www.hohnerusa.com/ahistory.htm|url-status=dead|title=HOHNER - enjoy music|archivedate=27 January 2007|website=Hohner.de|access-date=18 April 2021}}</ref> and harmonicas provided solace to soldiers on both the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] and [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] sides of the [[American Civil War]]. Frontiersmen [[Wyatt Earp]] and [[Billy the Kid]] played the instrument, and it became a fixture of the American musical landscape.

Harmonicas were heard on a handful of recordings in the early 1900s, generally labeled as a "mouth organ". The first jazz or traditional music recordings of harmonicas were made in the U.S. in the mid-1920s. Recordings known at the time as "race records", intended for the black market of the southern states, included solo recordings by [[DeFord Bailey]] and duo recordings with a guitarist ([[Hammie Nixon]], [[Big Walter Horton|Walter Horton]], or [[Sonny Terry]]). [[Hillbilly]] styles were also recorded, intended for white audiences, by [[Frank Hutchison]], [[Gwen Foster]] and several other musicians. There are also recordings featuring the harmonica in [[jug band]]s, of which the [[Memphis Jug Band]] is the most famous. But the harmonica still represented a toy instrument in those years and was associated with the poor. It is also during those years that musicians started experimenting with new techniques such as tongue-blocking, hand effects and the most important innovation of all, the second position, or cross-harp.

A significant contributor to the expanding popularity of the harmonica was a New York-based radio program called the ''Hohner Harmony Hour'', which taught listeners how to play. Listeners could play along with the program to increase their proficiency. The radio program gained wide popularity after the unveiling of the 1925 White House Christmas tree, which was adorned with fifty harmonicas.

The harmonica's versatility brought it to the attention of classical musicians during the 1930s. American [[Larry Adler]] was one of the first harmonica players to perform major works written for the instrument by the composers [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]], [[Malcolm Arnold]], [[Darius Milhaud]], and [[Arthur Benjamin]].

Harmonicas were scarce in the United States during [[World War II]]. Wood and metal materials for harmonicas were in short supply because of military demand. Furthermore, the primary harmonica manufacturers were based in Germany and Japan, the enemies of the United States and the Allied forces in the war. During this time, Finn Haakon Magnus, a Danish-American factory worker and entrepreneur, developed and perfected the molded plastic harmonica. The plastic harmonica used molded plastic combs and far fewer pieces than traditional metal or wood harmonicas, which made the harmonica more economical to mass-produce and more sanitary. Though the plastic reeds in these harmonicas produced a less distinctive (and, to many ears, inferior) sound than their metallic counterparts, [[Magnus Harmonica Corporation|Magnus harmonicas]] and several imitators soon became commonplace, particularly among children.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YyEDAAAAMBAJ&q=Finn+Haakon+Magnus&pg=RA1-PA244 |title=Popular Science – Google Books |date= September 1951|access-date=2012-07-05}}</ref> The patent for the plastic comb was awarded to William Kratt of Wm. Kratt Company in 1952. During World War II, the [[United States Department of Defense|War Department]] allotted a rationed supply of brass to Kratt's factory so they could continue to produce harmonicas that the [[American Red Cross|Red Cross]] distributed to American troops overseas to boost morale.

===East Asia===
[[File:甲賀夢仙・著『手風琴新曲独案内』修文館、明治32年=1899年 harmonica diatonic accordion.jpg|thumb|A school boy playing harmonica, and a school girl playing one-row diatonic accordion. A self-study book published in 1899 in Japan.]]
In 1898, the harmonica was brought to Japan, where the Tremolo harmonica was the most popular instrument. After about 30 years, the Japanese developed scale tuning and semitone harmonicas that could play Japanese folk songs.

==== Japanese tremolo tuning ====
In Europe and the United States, tremolo harmonica uses the Richter tuning, developed in Germany. In 1913, Shōgo Kawaguchi ({{lang|ja|川口章吾}}), known in Japan as the "Father of the harmonica", devised an alternate tuning, which is more suited to playing Japanese folk tunes. This tuning is also suited to local music throughout East Asia, and harmonicas using the tuning became popular in the region.

==== Minor key tuning ====
Initial diatonic harmonica tunings were major key only. In 1931, Hiderō Satō ({{lang|ja|佐藤秀廊}}) announced the development of a minor key harmonica. There are two types of minor key tunings, "natural minor" suitable for folk and contemporary music, and Latin American music, and the "harmonic minor" suitable for some famous Japanese pieces.

====Hong Kong and Taiwan====
The harmonica started to gain popularity in Hong Kong in the 1930s.  Individual tremolo harmonica players from China moved to Hong Kong and established numerous harmonica organizations such as The Chinese Y.M.C.A. Harmonica Orchestra, the China Harmonica Society,<ref>({{lang|zh-Hant|中國口琴社}})</ref> and the Heart String Harmonica Society. During the 1950s, chromatic harmonica became popular in Hong Kong, and players such as [[Larry Adler]] and [[John Sebastian (classical harmonica player)|John Sebastian Sr.]] were invited to perform.

Local players such as Lau Mok ({{lang|zh-Hant|劉牧}}) and Fung On ({{lang|zh-Hant|馮安}}) promoted the chromatic harmonica. The chromatic harmonica gradually became the main instrument used by the Chinese Y.M.C.A. Harmonica Orchestra. The Chinese [[YMCA]] Harmonica Orchestra started in the 1960s, with 100 members, most of whom played harmonicas.<ref>The violin and viola were replaced by 12-hole and 16-hole chromonicas; cello by chord harmonica, contra bass and octave bass; double bass by octave bass; flute by pipe soprano; clarinet by pipe alto; trumpet by horn soprano; trombone by horn alto; oboe by melodica soprano; English horn by melodica alto; French horn by melodica professional.</ref> Non-harmonica instruments were also used, such as double bass, accordion, piano, and percussion such as timpani and xylophone.

In the 1970s, the Haletone Harmonica Orchestra ({{lang|zh-Hant|曉彤口琴隊}})<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.haletone.com/forum.php|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221174146/http://www.haletone.com/introeng.html|url-status=dead|title=主頁 - 曉彤口琴網|archivedate=21 February 2009|website=Haletone.com|access-date=18 April 2021}}</ref> was set up at Wong Tai Sin Community Centre. Fung On and others continued to teach harmonica and also set up harmonica orchestras. In the 1980s, numbers of harmonica students steadily decreased. In the 1990s, harmonica players from Hong Kong began to participate in international harmonica competitions, including the World Harmonica Festival in Germany and the [[Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival]]. In the 2000s, the Hong Kong Harmonica Association (H.K.H.A.) ({{lang|zh-Hant|香港口琴協會}}) was established.

The history of the harmonica in Taiwan began around 1945. By the 1980s, though, as living standards improved, many instruments once beyond the budgets of most Taiwanese started to become more accessible and popular in preference to the harmonica.