The Harmonica was not originally developed in America, but rather saw the beginning of life in Germany. However, the Harmonica has a rich history in North America, and contributed heavily to the history of music in America as well. Hohner began to manufacture harmonicas in 1857, and shortly after this he began to ship some to friends and relatives who had traveled to the United States to become citizens. The music created by the harmonica quickly became popular in the United States, and in no time at all the country had created an enormous market for the instrument. Even president Abraham Lincoln carried a harmonica in his pocket, and many soldiers on the Union and Confederate sides during the American Civil War used harmonicas to find solace. The Harmonica quickly became a fixture on the American musical landscape, especially as frontiersmen like Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid began to play the instrument.
The first harmonica recordings were made in the United States in the early 1920s. These recordings were race records that were intended for the black market and the southern states. Recordings involving the harmonica also offered recordings with jug bands such as the Memphis Jug Band. Musicians during this time also began to experiment with new musical techniques including tongue blocking techniques, hand effects, and the second position or cross harp, which was perhaps the most important innovation out of all of the new techniques born from this time.
The harmonica made its way even further into American culture with the blues music developing during the 1950s. Black migrants to the north, mainly in New York, St. Louis, Chicago and Detroit. The music played by African Americans at this time began to take advantage of electric amplification to form bands. One of the most important harmonica players during this time was Rice Miller, who was better well known as Sonny Boy Williamson II. He used a full blues band and quickly became a really popular act in the South. He hosted daily broadcasts on the King Biscuit Hour which originated live out of Helena in Arkansas. He also did a lot to help popularize the recently developed cross harp technique, which found itself becoming an important blues harmonica technique.
The harmonica was revolutionized by Marion Little Walter Jacobs, who played the harmonica next to a bullet microphone, giving the instrument a new, punchy and mid range sound that could easily be heard above radio static or above the sound of an electric guitar. He also began to cup his hands around the instrument, which tightened the air available around the harp, which gave it a sound that was powerful and distorted to sound similar to a saxophone. This technique made him one of the most influential harmonica players in all of harmonica history in the United States.
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Originally posted 2008-12-31 05:00:51. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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