The harmonica, known in Scotland as the "mouthorgan" or "moothie", is a popular instrument, so popular that it can be found tucked away in the drawers of many Scottish homes. The Scottish harmonica is an easy instrument to get started on and to produce a tune but not so easy to become an expert player. However, it is well worth the effort.

Everybody knows that great things often come in a small package and the harmonica can make a marvellous, and rather diverse, sound, but how does the harmonica create it's unique sound? Technically it is a free reed instrument, which, in plain English, means that the sound is generated by a tiny reed or small strip of metal which vibrates in a slot in the reedplate as the musician blows or sucks into a mouthpiece at varying velocities (speeds/strengths).

Most traditional Scottish harmonica music is mainly played on what is called tremolo harmonica. Each note has two reeds tuned slightly differently to give the characteristic 'vibrato' sound achieved by top Scottish harmonica players like Donald Black and Bryce Johnstone. The tremolo harmonica usually has two sides tuned in different keys and traditional Scottish music is often played in sets of tunes so you will see the player flip the harmonica over in mid performance to change keys.

Other forms of the instrument, such as the chromatic harmonica, are commonly used in Scottish music. The chromatic harmonica has a single reed per note, but also has the all the sharp and flat notes available at the push of a slide button to open up these notes. Don Wessels is perhaps the best exponent of this style of Scottish Harmonica and his CD 'On Orkney' is linked to from my Scottish Harmonica web site.

Learning to Play the Harmonica

How does one start to learn? There are many web based learning resources, or, if you are lucky enough to live in Edinburgh, you can join one of the Scots Music Group classes

Having made a start on learning the instrument, you may find yourself asking "where can I hear Scottish Harmonica being played". Obviously, one way is to listen to albums and I recommend that you regularly visit my web site where you can find discography of the best Scottish Harmonica. I also include videos and links, such as, for example, to Donald Black performing Don Chuthaig at the National Harmonica League (NHL) annual festival in Bristol, last year.

However, one the best, most enjoyable and even educational, ways is to go to live performances of Scottish harmonica by the best exponents – such as Donald Black. On the other hand, perhaps better to go along in order to listen to or participate in live sessions. There are plenty of 'sessions' that you can go to; such as Sandy Bells in Edinburgh where beginners are welcome. If you go to the 'Events' page of my site I list many of the events currently happening.

The above article was submitted by David Hambley who owns and runs an excellent web site all about the Scottish Harmonica please take a look as we are sure you will find it as interesting as we did.

You will find his site at http://www.davidhambley.co.uk/

Thanks Dave