Mouth organ

Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Infobox instrument A mouth organ is any free reed aerophone with one or more air chambers fitted with a free reed.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Though it spans many traditions, it is played universally the same way by the musician placing their lips over a chamber or holes in the instrument, and blowing or sucking air to create a sound.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Many of the chambers can be played together or each individually.

The mouth organ can be found all around the world and is known by many different names and seen in many different traditions. The most notable variations include the harmonica, and Asian free reed wind instruments consisting of a number of bamboo pipes of varying lengths fixed into a wind chest; these include the sheng, khaen, lusheng, yu, shō, and saenghwang. The melodica, consisting of a single tube that is essentially blown through a keyboard, is another variation.

Gallery

• Cass-muha-1880.jpg

  C. A. Seydel Söhne Harmonica (1880)

• Mouth organ (or symphonium) (c.1830, London) by Charles Wheatstone, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.jpg

  Symphonium (c.1830) by Charles Wheatstone

• M.Hohner Trumpet Call Harmonica in C.jpg

  M. Hohner Trumpet Call Harmonica in C (1906)

• Mundharmonika.jpg

  Harmonica (rear) and Blues harp (front)

• 16-hole chrom 10-hole diatonic.jpg

  Chromatic 16-hole (over) and diatonic 10-hole (under) harmonica

• Melodicas.jpg

  Hohner Melodicas

• Ploong.jpg

  Plung, played by the Mru people of Bangladesh and Burma

• Sheng (Chinese mouth organ).jpg

  Sheng, a Chinese mouth organ

• Gifujyou5846.JPG

  Sho, a Japanese mouth organ

• Sandakan Sabah Sompoton-01.jpg

  Sompoton of Sabah, Malaysia

• Khene.jpg

  Khene, used in Mainland Southeast Asia

• Miao musicians.jpg

  Lusheng, used in Laos, Vietnam, South China

• Sets of free reed aerophone (free) - Soinuenea.jpg
• Ploy.jpg

  Cambodia, Ploy

• Musicians playing kadedek mouth organs, Engkurai, Pak Bunau, Borneo.jpg

  Keluri, used in Borneo.

• Qeej, free reed gourd mouth organ of the Hmong people.jpg

  Qeej, free reed gourd mouth organ of the Hmong people

See also

• Gourd mouth organ