Blow and Draw and Make a Song

I have gathered the material which describes the working principle of the diatonic harmonica, also known as Blues Harp. The shortest way to brief this is probably to tell you how to play the major scale with the diatonic harmonica. I use C major here in my example.

The numbers represent the holes in the harp and @ sign means that you have to blow and £ sing means that you draw from the certain hole in order to produce a wanted note. This pattern works with all the other major scales played with the 4 or 10 whole diatonic harmonica. In order to change a scale you must have at least two diatonic harmonicas. I have not heard that the 4 hole diatonic harmonica had manufactured in the other scale than C major. 10 hole diatonic harps are the different story. They can be found in many Major and also Minor Scales. Read more about diatonic harmonica here. When you use 10 hole C major diatonic harmonica the middle C is found in the hole number four by blowing. It is a custom habit that harmonica sheets are written one octave lower than they actual are played.

Listen to I Am C Major song by clicking the arrow below.

You can listen to all the songs that are in my harmonica note book here.

I wrote this I Am C Major Song because there is not many if any songs where all the six notes of the Major Scale are used. It is because of the tonality which favors the first, forth and fifth degrees of a major scale. I hope that my song still sounds nice to you.

My material is written in Finnish but you can easily use it because the notes and holes are shown in the international manner. You can browse my harmonica note book here. There you can find for example Mary Had a Lamb. Some American children songs are named in Finnish but you can listen to all the songs that are in the note book, please see the link below the media player in this article. If you don’t see the Juke Box please scroll to the bottom of the page.

With my material you can easily find out if the music is a right hobby for your child. You can purchase the harmonica example from Amazon.

I hope that this material inspires you and your children on the rewarding path of music.

Tornio on 17th October 2013
Yelling Rosa

PS And one more hint for the road