Harmonica Lesson 1
This lesson shows how to hold the harmonica and make your first sounds. This will be enough for you and your child to play the songs.
Take the harmonica in your left hand, and hold it between your first finger and thumb, like this.
Most harmonicas have numbers from 1 to 10 on one of the metal cover plates. Make sure that these numbers are facing upwards, so that you can see them, like the picture below
Now place your hand with the harmonica into your other hand. The end of your thumb on your other hand should rest against the end of the harmonica, like the picture below
If your child has small hands, then they can just hold the harmonica at each end, like the picture at the bottom of the page.
Now look down at your harmonica. You should see 10 holes. Place your mouth over the bottom 2 holes, and blow gently. It should sound like this
Now try this together with your child. Make sure that they hold the instrument around the right way, so that they blow the low notes and not the high ones.
For the songs we use a simple notation: blow means blow into holes 1 and 2.
Now place your mouth over the bottom two holes and breathe in. It should sound like this
Notice that the notes you hear when breathing in are higher than the notes you hear when blowing out. Try the breathing in notes with your child. They will probably play these notes anyway without needing any encouragement! Let them enjoy the noise that they make.
For the children's songs we use the notation draw to mean breathe in or draw on holes 1 and 2. We also use the ntotation rest, which means don't play. Easy!
These two sounds, blow and draw are enough for you and your child to join in with the songs.
