10 Reasons Why You Should Learn to Play the Harmonica

Looking for the reasons why you should learn to play the harmonica?

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The harmonica, besides being a wonderful tool that can both soothe and relax your mind, can have immense benefits for your health. Also known as the mouth organ, the harmonica is among the friendliest instruments for beginners to learn. Playing the harmonica is easier than most people think – sometimes it is as easy as blowing on the blow organ and major chords will be produced.

Read also: Websites to Learn Harmonica Online

Though small, the harmonica is a mighty instrument that can produce a rich sound that other instruments cannot measure up to. For instance, the harmonica can produce two or more notes or multiple intervals, which many other wind instruments cannot do.  The harmonica is also a primary instrument in many genres including Blues, country, folk, as well as rock music. Here are 10 reasons why you should learn to play the harmonica:

10 Reasons Why You Should Learn to Play the Harmonica

1. Learning the harmonica has a host of health benefits

Playing the harmonica, or any other instrument for that matter has been known to have calming effects on the body and mind. In particular, the harmonica can improve blood pressure levels, as well as be used as a tool in therapies that deal with anxiety, stress, and depression. Other conditions that can be controlled using the harmonica include insomnia and attention deficit disorder.

2. The harmonica has been known to improve cognitive abilities

Musicians and harmonica players tend to outperform non-musical individuals when it comes to cognitive abilities. Learning how to play the harmonica can particularly be helpful for people that have advanced in age (65 and older) as it has been proven to have a positive impact on the parts of the brain that control hearing, memory, and coordination. Learning an instrument like the harmonica can also help to improve one’s IQ levels.

3. To enhance your memory

Both adult and young players can benefit from playing the harmonica because it allows the mind to remain active and alert, which ultimately shapes and sharpens one’s memory. When your memory is enhanced, it makes it a lot easier to do things like learning a foreign language, verbal memory, or store complex information.

4. It improves one’s time management capabilities

To learn how to play the harmonica professionally, one has to be well organized as well as have proper time management skills. Professional musicians have to learn how to use their time effectively, which leads to continuous self-improvement.

5. The harmonica does wonders for respiratory issues

It has been observed that the harmonica can have incredible benefits on respiratory illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis. Experts state that the main reason why the harmonica works well for such diseases is that it trains your body how to breathe properly. By inhaling and exhaling properly, it can improve your breathing abilities and lead to an increase in the way your lungs can take in and store oxygen.

6. Enhance your coordination

When learning how to play the harmonica, it actually trains the parts of your brain that controls motor skills to grow and become more active. Playing the harmonica also requires you to perform different tasks at the same time such as breathing properly as well as control your rhythm and breathing.

7. The harmonica can improve your mathematical skills

In order to be considered a great harmonica player, you must also learn how to count different rhythms and notes, which goes a long way towards enhancing your musical abilities. The process of learning music theory also includes several mathematical concepts such as fractions that can be applied in real life mathematical situations.

8. It instills discipline and commitment

Although the harmonica is relatively easy to pick up, one still needs commitment and dedication to master it. Learning how to play the harmonica will take time and effort. However, along the way, it will also result in instilled discipline, commitment, and patience. As a matter of fact, a lot of beginner harmonica plays typically have to practice difficult sections over and over before finally executing it correctly.

9. Used as a stress reliever

When you play the harmonica, not only does doing so relieve other people’s stress levels but yours as well. The sound that is produced by the harmonica, as well as the vibration produced, can have lasting effects on stress and anxiety when endorphins are released by the body. Endorphins are the hormones responsible for low-stress levels.

10. You can play it anywhere

The beauty of the harmonica is that it is portable, which means that you play it anywhere at any time. Should you have a spare moment, you can simply remove the harmonica from your pocket and start playing. In addition to it being portable, the harmonica is also quite affordable in comparison to other instruments like flutes and trumpets. This low cost and its portability make the harmonica one of the easiest instruments to take up.

Conclusion

There you have it! The benefits of playing the harmonica are many and cannot be understated. The harmonica has the capacity to produce rich music that can be challenging for other wind instruments to produce, which explains why it is a mainstay in many genres like folk and the blues.

Learning the harmonica has been proven to have tremendous benefits for your health, and it is actually used in many alternative respiratory therapies to treat illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis. The harmonica also impacts your cognitive abilities and your capacity for memory. All in all, the harmonica is a great little instrument that you should definitely try out.