During the 1st millennium BC the Chinese invent a small portable musical instrument, the sheng, on which the player blows or sucks to make a thin metal reed vibrate. Each of the separate holes along the edge directs the air to a reed playing a different note.
A sheng brought to Europe in the 1770s creates considerable interest, but there is a long gap before C.F.L. Buschmann produces a similar instrument in Berlin in 1821 under the name of Mundäoline. It catches on, as a cheap and enjoyable way of making music, and eventually settles down under the more harmonious names of harmonica or mouth organ.
During the 1st millennium BC the Chinese invent a small portable musical instrument, the sheng, on which the player blows or sucks to make a thin metal reed vibrate. Each of the separate holes along the edge directs the air to a reed playing a different note.
A sheng brought to Europe in the 1770s creates considerable interest, but there is a long gap before C.F.L. Buschmann produces a similar instrument in Berlin in 1821 under the name of Mundäoline. It catches on, as a cheap and enjoyable way of making music, and eventually settles down under the more harmonious names of harmonica or mouth organ.
The mouth organ
During the 1st millennium BC the Chinese invent a small portable musical instrument, the sheng, on which the player blows or sucks to make a thin metal reed vibrate. Each of the separate holes along the edge directs the air to a reed playing a different note.
A sheng brought to Europe in the 1770s creates considerable interest, but there is a long gap before C.F.L. Buschmann produces a similar instrument in Berlin in 1821 under the name of Mundäoline. It catches on, as a cheap and enjoyable way of making music, and eventually settles down under the more harmonious names of harmonica or mouth organ.
