All about harmonicas

BY LAURIE GORDON
SPARTA — Ginny Smith has always loved music. She plays the guitar, takes music lessons and attends live concerts and events regularly. She began volunteering at The Newton Theatre opening night in September, 2011 and has been volunteering there ever since. She also started taking art, music, music history and music business classes at County College of Morris. All of this led her to the harmonica and a business built around it called Imagine Art and Music.
Smith owned a stationery business called Rainbow Press for 20 years. “Rainbow Press provided invitations and stationery to brides/grooms, party-givers and corporate clients,” she said. “When printing became accessible to the masses, and email, text and Facebook events became the norm, I realized it was the right time to move on to the next business adventure. “ She said she wasn’t sure what that would be but was pretty certain it would involve music.
“One of my closest friends had given me a necklace with a one inch working harmonica hanging from a chain many years ago – I loved the necklace and wore it most the time,” Smith said. “ I played it so much I wore out the reeds and wanted to buy another, but the store where she bought it had closed. I looked online and couldn't find one I liked, so I decided to make my own. I bought a mini, genuine Hohner harmonica online and some chain, added a little charm with the word 'harmony' and I was hooked! I received many compliments and started making different designs to give to friends. Then I started selling them.”
It didn't take long before Smith fell in love with full sized harmonicas as well. She started playing them and loved them even more than the minis. She said she learned everything she could about them, and became a certified dealer for Hohner Inc. (the largest and oldest manufacturer of harmonicas in the world). Now she sells harmonicas directly to professional musicians and hobbyists; at music and songwriting festivals and online.
“Professional musicians need harmonicas in several keys, so they may buy three at one time,” Smith explained, “If they play them very often, the reeds can get swollen from saliva and have to be replaced frequently. The most popular key is C, then A, G and D. I keep several models in stock and can get any model quickly. The most popular harmonica, which is considered the classic, is the Hohner Marine Band. First introduced in 1896, it is one of those rare instruments that time and technology could not improve.”
The design is the same now as it was then. They are still made in Germany and sell for $45. However, Smith said you can get can started with a good, basic Hohner Blues Band harmonica priced at just $7 and there are many priced in-between. With a sheet of tabulature, a book of music or the thousands of resources online, one can learn to play the harmonica immediately.
Smith said, “Over 40 million people in the U.S. alone play the harmonica to make music, relieve stress and even help support lung function. Hospitals are using them for C.O.P.D. patients since you need to breathe in and out of the holes to make a sound, so they are also therapeutic.”
In addition to the many famous harmonica players such as Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Terry, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and John Popper, there are many political figures who have relaxed by playing the harmonica. Abraham Lincoln, Warren G. Harding, Ronald Regan and now Vice Presidential candidate Tim Kaine is an enthusiastic harmonica player as well.
Smith’s husband, Keith, is a professional artist and art professor, so she’s involved in the art world as well. “In addition to the many music shows we attend, we also enjoy going to art exhibitions and I love watching him paint. His artwork takes realism to a whole new level. When my business started taking off, I was thinking of a name and happened to glance at a bag from a John Lennon Art Exhibition we attended. The word IMAGINE kind of separated and I saw it in a new way...'Im a Gin E - I'm a Ginny'! My maiden name starts with E so it tickled me. With a nod to John Lennon, Imagine Art and Music, LLC was born on what would have been his 74th birthday, October 9, 2014.”
This past year, Imagine Art and Music, LLC started facilitating harmonica parties. Each guest receives a full-size harmonica and tablature, so they can play “Happy Birthday” (or song of choice) to the guest of honor. The harmonica then makes a great gift for your guest to take home.
“We hope to host harmonica necklace-making parties in our studio as well. We'd like to expand our music education and have instructors go out to schools, camps and parties to teach children about the harmonica and get them started playing young,” Smith added. “The possibilities are endless, and my love affair with the harmonica is only getting stronger the more I learn. What's not to love? They are affordable, portable, historical and beautiful. So try one out and blow your blues away.”
You can follow Imagine Art and Music, LLC on Facebook at Facebook.com/imagineartandmusic or email Ginny at imagineartandmusic@gmail.com.