From: Michael Will Date: Fri, 19 Apr 1996 23:16:15 -0700 Subject: First Harmonicas
My brother and sister-in-law had a baby back in September (on my birthday!). Before they got home from the hospital, I had left a care package on their porch, including a Golden Melody--round edges, good to chew on, I figured. Some day the kid'll thank me. Umm hmmm.
Today, some friends I haven't seen in a couple of years came to visit with their 3 year old. Well, I had to make sure she ended up with a cheapo C harmonica. She was delighted, dancing around and playin' the thang. A natural--single note, chord, single note, chord... Her mom was, of course, thrilled that her little girl *finally* had a way to make obnoxious noises...
I showed her and her dad what a harmoncia sounded like amplified. Went upstairs and her mom wanted to know about the Sax music she had heard. Didn't (want to) believe me when I told her it was a harmonica.
%^) Happy!
My dad used to play an old Hohner Echo double harmonica--key of C on one side, G on the other, 10 diatonic notes. He'd play "Jimmy Crack Corn" (whatever *that* means...), Red River Valley, and one or two more. As an early teen my mom gave me a harmonica "just like Pop's". I could pick out a tune by ear easy enough, except the stupid thing was broken.
I'd go to play something, and some notes would be missing! And not just the accidentals! And the dang thing had two notes that were the same, one on a blow and one on a draw! What THE heck?!? Must be plugged or something. Knocked it around a bit, to no avail (surprised?). My dad always said you were supposed to soak your harmonica, so I threw it in some boiling water. I dunno, 20 minutes ought to do it. . .
Stoopid thing still didn't work right. Take it apart. What is stuck in the hole screwing up what should be some perfectly good notes??!! Couldn't find anything!
Dang thing! Throw it in a drawer and forget about it.
Until many many years later, on a vist to "The All and Everything Store" in beautiful downtown Boulder Creek (Santa Cruz mountains of California in the heart of a redwood forest) I just had to spring for the "Klutz" book, including a little baby harmonica that just wasn't any good cause it didn't even have 2 keys on it or a slide button or *anything*, by the world renouned Jon Gindick.
Well the dang 2 draw didn't work on that harmonica--I'd suck and suck and once in a while it'd make a little sound--but not consistently, so after never figuring out the "Good Morning Riff" I gave the book and stooooopid broken baby harmonica away to someone who expressed interest in learning. After all, it was pure trickery that anyone would pretend to be able to *bend* a note that won't even play! Faagghh.
And the rest is history.
Oh, well, my mother in law gave me a Blues Harp for Christmas one year--key of A instead of C, which I liked the tone of better. The 2 draw was still a problem, so it sat in a drawer (not lost in a box like the old Echo). One time I stumbled on it preparing for a business trip, and threw it in to my briefcase (don't know why..). Well, I ended up lost in the Washington D.C. area, so I stuck the harp in my mouth and just jammed with the radio.
