Re: [Harp-L] Re: Why is a harmonica called a harp?

[Russ Bradley <wbradley@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Both my parents are from Tennessee.  I always heard them, and my uncle 
who played, refer to the instrument as a "French harp".  Or harp for short.
My father used to bring them home for me when he went on trips.  He 
would hand it to me and say, "Here's a French harp for you."
The only reason I knew it was called a harmonica was because that was 
what was written on the box.
You can go just about anywhere in the south and, if you say you play 
harp, people automatically assume you're not talking about that tall 
thing with strings that they play in the symphony.

Mississippi saxophone is my favorite moniker, maybe because it refers 
more to a style of playing than the instrument itself.

Russ

larryboy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Elliot ZAIS write in part:
>
> I'm sure there is some interesting history (on the name harp) However, it
> doesn't justify replacing the perfectly good name of our instrument, the
> harmonica or mouth organ with the perfectly good name of another, radically
> different, instrument, the harp. Appeals to "tradition", i.e., we've called it
> a harp for too long to change, seem to be rather weak arguments. Granted,
> harmonica is a long word at four syllables. A snappy one or two syllable name
> would be nice. I just don't think it should be harp.
>
>  
>
> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > 8<<<<<<<<<<<<<
> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >                                
>
> What goes around comes around.  How long has it been since the discussion of our
> instrument's nom de plume?  If you just call it a harmonica, then how do you
> differentiate between diatonic and chromatic?  There was a move afoot to call
> the diatonic a "short harp" and the Chromatic a "long harp".  But that had
> problems since some diatonics are longer than some chromatics.  What about a
> tremolo or octave, or bass harps?  
>
> My personal favorite moniker is "two-bit tin sandwich"
>
> Best Regards to All,
>
> Larry Boy Pratt
> www.parkhousejam.com
>
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