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Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 18:38:04 EST
From: Snaru~ol.com
Subject: Re: Why Larry Adler called it "mouth organ"?

Dezi commented the subject and Harpie had to smile on some strange
information. May I correct a little?

> Actually in germany the instruments is always called a "Mundharmonica",
> meaning mouth harmonica.>

At first, it's never called "Mundharmonica" but "Mundharmonika" (yes, when
it comes to a term in another language, the spelling has to be correct).
And secondly, it's not always called this way. As I said, there are some
30 other names.

>"Harmonica" is their word for accordian.>

Heeehe, that's funny. What is an "accordian"? Do you mean the German
"Akkordeon" or the English "accordion"?

And then, a "Harmonika" isn't an "Akkordeon". To be quite correct one
had to speak of a "Ziehharmonika" which is an instrument with a bellow
like an accordion but gives different notes depending whether the bellow is
pulled or pressed, unlike an accordion. Here, the direction of the bellow
motion doesn't matter because of the two identical reeds for one note.

> In Trossingen Germany where the hohner factory is located they have
> a "harmonica conservitory" that was founded by hohner for the teaching
> of the accordian.>

Yes, Trossingen is in Germany, absolutely. Correct also that Hohner founded
the "conservatory" and therefore, it's called the "Hohner Konservatorium"
where Yasuo Watani teaches the harp playing e.g.

> The classical hundharmonica players i met in Germany usually called
> their instrument a "Chromatica".>

Hey, hey, that's even better than "Harpie in concert". A "Chromatica" is a
harp for special effects with 3 chromatical octaves where the blows & draws
in each hole have the same note. However, even in Germany most, if not all,
harp players of classical music are satisfied with a chromatic.

>Classical harp players just think the harmonica sounds cheap so they
>give it a more respectable name.>

Uffff, if you would ask Franz Chmel whether his modified Super 64 sounds
cheap, he surely would answer that his only problem is to keep the sound
machine in-tune.

Okay, Dezi, have a good time until the next Hohner festival in 2005.

Siegfried