[Harp-L] Ancestor of the harmonica

[john coster <john.medicineb@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Harp-L friends,

I was taking a break at one of our Celtic sessions here in the People's
Republic of Northwestern Massachusetts when one of the other session players
introduced me to a guy in the audience named Seth Bredbury who is an
aspiring harmonica student. Seth and I got to  talking about the different
kinds of harps, tremolo harps vs single reed etc. when he mentioned that he
had seen a Chinese instrument that was probably the ancestor of the
harmonica, the first reed instrument I think, called the sheng. Supposedly
it dates from about three thousand years ago. I'd never seen one of these,
but now that I've heard the music on the enclosed video Seth sent me, I
think the sound is one I recognize, maybe from sound tracks. I don't know
what connection may exist between this instrument and the harps we play, but
I thought Harp L readers might find this video interesting. Quite a sound!
It is at any rate a very early instrument with which the musician activates
a metal reed with his or her breath.
Maybe certain elements in its fabrication could be useful to harmonica
designers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8cJBHFQD64&feature=related

Cheers,

John Coster

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