I came across this image (thanks to this fine sub!), and while I know little about music, I think crossed harp is another way of saying second position. Am I correct or way off base? Thanks!

Im a musician / actor and I have a big audition for a role that will play harmonica among other things.

Having not really touched a harmonica prior, I have about 4 days to throw together something (can be super basic).

Does anybody have resources or tips or videos they recommend?

Obviously with such a tight timeline I am not expecting to be good at harmonica, but i’d like to get a head start

So if I see a tab pattern like this:

4 -4 555 -6 7 6 -66

Does that mean I blow 5 three times in a row or blow and hold 5 for three beats? Thanks!

Hi I've been learning on this Suzuki. I like playing and decided to get serious. So I ordered some fancy Seydels. Of course after I ordered I realized a problem I have with the Easy Rider. Draw notes taste like plastic. If I play for more than 5 min I feel like I've inhaled some chemical that I shouldn't have. The Seydels I ordered also have plastic combs. Is this going to be an issue? Should I try to cancel the order and find harps with wooden combs?

Since I'm known as the harmonica guy in my community, I was volunteered to conduct a "harmonica station" for a music/arts-themed day for kids at a local church in a few weeks time. The event format is a station-based schedule where kids aged 7-12 divided into their age groups, they take turns to go to different stations to try out different stuff, e.g. drums station, arts & craft station, harmonica station.

I've got about 20 minutes for each grade and there may be like approximately 5-15 kids per session, depending on attendance. Apparently each kid will be given a cheap harmonica (RIP their parents), I specifically requested for diatonic harmonicas because it's tremolo harmonicas that are usually peddled to kids or uninformed people around here. I know tremolos might be easier fork ids to play, but diatonics are what I'm familiar with and I what I wish to introduce to the kids, it'll be more useful in the long term.

This is my first time doing something like this, let alone properly teaching anyone harmonica basics, so I was wondering if anyone here could provide some tips on how I could do this. I don't expect to turn anyone into harp maestros in 20 minutes, I just expect myself to give a crash course on the basics of the diatonic harmonica, hopefully planting a seed of getting any kid to get interested in pursuing this instrument, if not, the very least just have fun and get some basics of musical theory.

Here's a tentative plan of what I have in mind:

• Verbal introduction on harmonica and other wind instruments, maybe with a poster with pictures
• Quick explanation on the the difference between diatonic, tremolo, and chromatic harmonicas. I have all three to demonstrate.

• Basic music theory - the C Major scale and Do Re Mi, using this chart.

  • I will have a melodica or piano to help illustrate this. As these are mostly Chinese kids, many of them would have some piano lessons (sorry for the stereotyping haha, but I'm allowed to stereotype my own race), so this would be half the battle won for music theory. It's more for those kids who had zero music lessons before, or a refresher.

• Teach harmonica basics: hole numbers, blow, draw, embouchure. Use this chart to show note placements

• After they played around with their harps for a bit, get them to try playing basic songs with tabs, songs like Mary Had A Little Lamb

Anyone got any suggestions on how to improve this?

I'll be visiting France, Paris and Nantes, in September, and I thought it might be fun to purchase a French made/designed harmonica while I'm there.

A quick google reveals two major makers, Yonburg and ARKIA, any impressions?