KDMHome

The Harmonica for

Celtic-Folk Music

The first harmonica, as we know it today, was invented in Germany in 1821, by a

16-year old German clockmaker, named Christian Ludwig Buschmann. Herr

Buschmann put 15 pitchpipes together to make a unique musical instrument that

was 4 inches in diameter and about the same measurement in length. It produced

21 notes, with harmonies of six tones. He called the little instrument “a mouth

harp” or "mundaeoline."

What was different about

this design from the

previous “flat-tone” open

reed, Chinese instruments

was that the “mouth harp”

could create a crescendo

effect. This little mouth harp

soon became the rage

throughout Europe.

Their capability of creating

harmony and their

portability coined the

phrase of “having a band in

the pocket.”

Made public image of the breakout of the 10-hole,

diatonic harmonica.

It wasn’t long when others began to make these musical wind instruments as well.

As decreed by the court of Untersachsenberg on October 27th, 1847, Christian

August Seydel founded a factory to produce hand-crafted harmonicas in

Klingenthal at the foot of the famous 'Aschberg' (literally ‘Ash Mountain or wall’)

and was to become one of the biggest harmonica factories in the whole of

Saxony. The Seydel company still prides itself in producing hand-crafted

harmonicas, and their precision is excellent.

Just as with the design of Celtic whistles there were other craftsmen working on

improving the design of the harmonica. A 24-year-old, Mathias Hohner,

purchased one of the early instruments that Herr Buschmann had created and

decided to mass produce the instrument. Mathias founded his company in 1857

where he and his wife and one employee produced 650 harmonicas in that first

year. By comparison today, the Hohner company produces over 650 harmonics in

just one hour.

While the Seydel harmonicas opted for precision in construction, the Hohner

sacrificed some of that mechanical precision of construction to make the cost of

the instrument affordable for most people. The Hohner harmonicas became

widely known in America and has been played by many in U.S. History to include

Abraham Lincoln. As a note: Lincoln’s favorite melody with the Hohner harmonica

was “Dixie.”

KelticDead Music