How to learn to play the harmonica?

Half a century ago, not a single festive event could do without a good accordionist in the countryside: weddings, name days, christenings, New Years, "Maslenitsa" and other large and small celebrations. In some places, there is still a tradition to call the accordion player for a significant holiday for the family. Different motives on the accordion - songs, dance melodies, round dance - are transmitted mainly "by ear" from generation to generation, from an experienced craftsman to a newly-minted musician. However, you can learn on this folk musical instrument on your own - without a self-taught mentor or educated teacher.

Of course, learning to play any musical instrument begins with the rules of landing with it, holding it, positioning hands and fingers. From this we will begin to learn to play the harmonica.

Further, the article discusses the issues of learning on a conventional harmonica, which has two keyboards:

1. right - melodic, intended for the fingers of the right hand;
2. left - bass, which is played by the fingers of the left hand.

There are countless varieties of this tool: in some places they play large instruments, which have three rows of buttons in the left keyboard, in others - on small, single-row, in others they prefer to have a two-row accordion. In addition, there are many differences among the same single-row or double-row ones. Some models do not have buttons at all in the left or right keyboard, but keys.And everyone will have their own peculiarities, both in the position of the hands, and in the technique of the game.

Therefore, we will learn to play the most popular, probably, of all instrument models - "Two-row". It has 25 buttons in the right keyboard, arranged in 2 rows, and in the left - three rows with the same number of buttons.

Modern accordions have two shoulder straps attached to the instrument on the right side of the keyboard, and one end strap for securing the left hand on the side of the bass buttons.

Belts you need to adjust to your figure: the instrument should sit comfortably on your chest. The lower part of it, when the musician is sitting, rests on the thigh of the right leg with the right side of the body, and the inner part touches the chest with its top. It is most convenient to sit on a stool or hard chair, but not very deep - closer to the edge. There should be free space on the left side of the accordion player - there he will stretch the bellows when playing. You need to sit straight (you should neither slouch nor lean forward). Leaning back, for example, on the back of a chair, is also not recommended. The left hand is threaded through the end strap, which should hold it tightly, but not limit any movement of it up, down, forward (into the depth of the keyboard) and back.

In the right hand, most attention is paid to the placement of the thumb. It can have several positions, depending on what function the musician assigns to it.

1. The thumb does not participate in playing the keyboard, but serves only for additional fixation of the musical instrument and compensation for the efforts of the playing fingers. In this case, it is on the back of the neck.
2. It does not play, but does not support the instrument, but only slightly relieves the tension of the other fingers and serves, rather, as a support and a guide for the hand and forearm of the right hand. At the same time, he is on the edge of the bar, touching it with the second phalanx and sliding along it after the fingers. In this case, the fingers are all brought together.
3. The thumb participates in the game like everyone else. This solution increases the technical capabilities of the accordion player.

It should be noted that some models of "two-row" in the bass have not three, but two rows of buttons. However, this circumstance should not bother a real accordionist: he will always find the right bass or chord.

Accordion sounds are produced by pressing buttons and moving the fur at the same time. If the buttons are not pressed, then the bellows will not be able to move or move, since there is nowhere to enter or leave the air. The buttons are a kind of air valves that, when pressed, open the sound holes, and when released, close them.

And vice versa, if the bellows are motionless, then there is no point in pressing the buttons of the instrument - there is no air flow, the sound reeds remain "dull".

The bellows movement is controlled by the musician's left hand, since the right side of the instrument remains stationary.

You should try to reproduce long notes continuously - when the fur moves in one direction (any). And you also need to understand what changes in sound occur with certain movements of the fur. Let's list the main ones that are useful for beginners to learn:

• when the fur moves slowly, the sound is quieter;
• when the speed of movement increases, the sound increases;
• a particularly loud sound occurs with a sharp movement of the fur;
• evenly and smoothly accelerating or slowing down the movement of the fur, you can get not only sounds with changing dynamics, but also with different timbre.

With experience, of course, will come the ability to correctly calculate the duration of notes and phrases, timely change the direction of movement of the fur, so as not to interrupt sounds ahead of time, competently control the dynamics and timbre of a musical instrument.

You can learn to play the harmonica at almost any conscious age. Children can begin to comprehend the basics of the art of play already from preschool age. True, they also need to choose an appropriate instrument, perhaps a still incomplete model of a two-row accordion of the "Seagull" type.But they need a mentor from among amateur musicians or an educated teacher of playing the harmonica. Musicians who teach the button accordion or accordion who are familiar with the basics of playing the accordion will do. Almost any music school in our country is provided with these specialists, as well as Children's Art Houses and leisure centers.

For adult beginners, there are several options for learning to play the accordion.

1. You can learn the technique of playing, as it is often said, "from hand", and in most cases we are not talking about any musical notation. Such study is possible on condition of a person or relative living nearby who knows how to play this instrument and agrees to help with practical lessons of the game. But there is one nuance here: if a beginner does not have an ear for music and talent, but only a desire, then a potential "teacher" will understand this the first time. The lessons are unlikely to continue further, since the option of transferring skills "from hand to hand" is successful only where people have the same understanding of the same business. And in music this equivalent "concept" is just a good ear for music.
2. Contact professional teachers, as is the case with very young fans of the accordion. Professionals do not consider hearing loss as a criterion for refusing to study with those who wish, since they understand that all people actually have an ear for music, but some have it by nature good or even unique (absolute), while others need to work with it. develop.
3. Learning at home without outside help or with the help of modern means (Internet, video tutorials, online courses). Adults can quite successfully master the harmonica on their own, studying lessons from scratch using self-instruction manuals, schools, as well as watching the lessons and playing of accomplished musicians through videos. A virtuoso game, most likely, will become an unattainable dream for them, but they will be able to enjoy and please their relatives and close friends with their game if they are diligent and attentive. Easy old and modern melodies, you can learn how to play correctly rather quickly if you really want to.

There are self-instruction manuals in which training is carried out not by notes, but by numbers. Each button in both the right and left keyboards is endowed with its own "personal" number (1, 2, 3, and so on), and the tutorial provides the order of pressing the keyboard when performing an exercise, melody or song.

Here are two examples of the digital method taken from the pages of various chrome tutorials:

In the example of the song "Old Maple", a combined method of recording the accordion part is used - both musical and digital.

Which course of study is suitable for a beginner, he will decide for himself.

The program of lessons on the technique of playing the harmonica at home should adhere to a certain plan, the purpose of which is the continuous development of the novice harmonica player. The following training scheme is recommended.

It is necessary to learn how to correctly move on the buttons with the fingers of the right hand, while pressing the buttons to the end with soft movements of the fingertips. You should not knock on them, since the sound does not become brighter and louder from the energy of pressing the button. Only the movement of the bellows affects the strength of the sound.

You should start by learning the C major scale - first one octave, and then use all three.

When performing exercises, you must constantly monitor:

• the fit and position of both the body and the instrument;
• the elbow of the right hand should not be pressed against the musician's body;
• the fingers do not bend at the joints, but have a bent position;
• do not lift your fingers too high above the keyboard;
• the feet rest on the floor with their entire area, and stand apart from each other at a distance of shoulder-width apart.

All your exercises must be accompanied by a suitable score: if the song is in a 3/4 waltz time signature, then you need to count "one-two-three" for each quarter beat, in the amount of 4/4 the score is kept to four.

At first, the left hand is mastered only in actions with the control of bellows, but so far only the fingers of the right hand are playing. The left wrist is located under the short strap, the thumb and palm rest in the region of the rib between the cover of the right half of the instrument and the bass keyboard.

After successfully mastering the right keyboard, you can start learning the keyboard and exercises on the bass side of the harmonica.

As for the fingers, four fingers are involved in the game.

Everything else is similar to the rules for the action of the fingers of the right hand on the buttons.

After completing the exercises recommended in the tutorial for developing the fingers of the left hand, you should join your hands into a single ensemble, learning, for example, a simple motive from a self-instruction manual, in which there are both melodic and accompanying voices. Here's an example of a small composition for beginners:

When teaching, you need to follow the following tips from experienced accordion players:

• make music in a good mood;
• you should try not to miss daily lessons: let it be only 15 minutes, but - every day;
• without completing the previous exercise for "five", you should not proceed to the next;
• each practice exercise or song must be memorized and played in a “blind” way (without looking at the keyboard);
• it is useful to play in front of the audience - you need to be able to ignore the audience, delving into the music only when playing.

Harmonic Is an amazing musical instrument with great possibilities and strong sound. And although it is not as popular as, for example, the guitar, but its sound always excites the hearts of listeners.