Harmonica and Mouth-organ basics

NOTATIONS FOR 24 HOLES CHROMATIC AND DIATONIC MOUTH-ORGAN
click the figure to see the larger figure


i= inhale (draw air) , e = exhale(blow air)

• To represent the lower pitch I used the notation "#" (i.e on the left part of mouthorgan) ,ex dha# , ni# etc...
• To represent the higher pitch I used the notation "*" (i.e on the right part of mouthorgan), ex sa* , ni* etc...
• To represent the use of changer (or the button on the right side) of chromatic mouthorgan) ,i used the notation "ch" . for example : dha(ch)...

As shown in the above figure, a 24 holes diatonic and chromatic mouth organ consists of three sets of SARGAM , first the Low pitch followed by the medium pitch followed by the high pitch. out of these three the Medium pitch is mostly used .

It must be noted that all the tones from the mouth-otgan can not be produced by just exhaling air in the mouth-organ , but almost half of the tones are produced by inhaling the air . for example : we can produce Sa , Ga and Pa by exhaling the air in to the mouth organ , whereas the tones Re , Ma ,Dha and Ni are produced by inhaling the air from the mouth-organ.


Before start learning to play any song in the mouth-organ you must learn to play the SARGAM ( Sa , Re ,Ga ,Ma ,Pa , Dha, Ni ,Sa).The reason i want you to learn playing it because i believe that if you are comfortable with SARGAM you can play any song on your own.

HOW TO PLAY SARGAM

As it is clear from the above figure that that medium pitch' is starting form the 9th node which is "Sa" , so to play SARGAM you need to start from the the 9th node i.e. "Sa" .

As shown int the figure that for playing tone :
"Sa" - you need to blow or exhale air , for
"Re" - you need to draw or inhale air , for
"Ga" - you need to blow or exhale air , for
"Ma" - you need to draw or inhale air , for
"Pa" - you need to blow or exhale air , for
"Dha" - you need to draw or inhale air , for
"Ni" - you need to draw or inhale air , for

So to play Sa , Re , Ga , Ma, Pa ,Dha , Ni , Sa in sequence, you need to blow and draw air alternatively while moving left to right on the mouth organ. But there is a exception , it must be noted that, to play the note "Dha" you need to draw the air and again to play "Ni" you need to draw the air.

So Playing SARGAM consists of :

.Sa.....Re.....Ga.....Ma.....Pa...Dha....Ni....Sa*
blow draw blow draw blow draw draw blow


To listen SARGAM played by me , click here

After playing this SARGAM you should also play the reverse of SARGAM in continuation of SARGAM.. as

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa* Sa* Ni Dha Pa Ma Ga Re Sa
e.....i....e....i....e.....i....i....e....e.....i....i.....e....i....e....i....e

>Practise playing this SARGAM atleast 100 times . You should be so much comfortable with this SARGAM that if someone play a note on the mouthorgan u must recognize which note it was.


After you are comfortable with SARGAM you should proceed to learn playing your first song ....

The first song which i learned was "Hai apna dil to aawara" , and therefore i wont recommend you to start with this song because that is too tough song to start with . i believe that song " dil ne dil ko pukara : kaho naa pyar hai" is the best song to start with because it is very easy and so gives you confidence..

CLICK HERE TO LEARN YOUR FIRST SONG : "Dil ne dil ko pukara : kaho naa pyar hai "