By Kathy Silber
What is 4” x 1” x ¾”, fits into your pocket or purse, never fails to elicit a smile, and is even good for you?! Give up? It’s the harmonica!
Thanks to the gregarious nature of many who are attracted to this little instrument, harmonica groups are popping up all across the country. People are discovering how relaxing a pastime playing the harmonica can be. It’s an instrument that, given even a little time, you can play by ear — even if you’ve never played another instrument previously.
Once you begin to play, you’ll find that you can pick out tunes that you’ve known for years. What a kick! Within a very short period of time, you’re doing something you never thought possible. It’s a real ego-booster!
Do you have “blue” days once in a while? Relax with your harmonica and you’re sure to feel better in a matter of minutes. Although it’s cheaper than drugs, it may well prove to be more addictive. You’ll find it’s hard to put down, but when you do, you’re in a much happier state of mind.
These days, doctors are providing evidence that the harmonica is not only a feel-good instrument, but it is also a do-good instrument. Harmonica groups are being formed at hospitals, of all places, spanning from the east coast to the west coast. Doctors have recognized for years that the blow/draw action required for harmonica playing is beneficial to patients with lung problems.
Now they are forming harmonica therapy groups in hospitals for those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, asthma, and chronic bronchitis. By blowing and drawing through the instrument’s holes, it becomes necessary to use the diaphragm, the muscle that has become flattened in the course of the disease.
Harmonicas are also used in therapy for those who have had heart attacks and open-heart surgery. For these patients, it strengthens the heart muscle. Physical therapy patients agree that playing the harmonica is much more effective and fun than blowing out candles, walking on a treadmill or blowing up five inch balloons. They not only look forward to their group therapy sessions, but they are also more apt to practice at home.
Harmonica players are loath to look upon their playing as exercise, but the physiological benefits of playing the instrument are deeply felt. This probably, then, is the reason that playing the harmonica chases depression away: when we exercise, the body releases those feel-good endorphins.
So the next time someone laughs when you tell them you play the harmonica, just tell them that you’re on the cutting edge of modern medicine.
You’re playing not just for fun, but for the health of it!
