Harmonetta

Diagram of the Harmonetta keyboard (German note names.)

The Hohner Harmonetta is a mouth-blown free-reed instrument which was introduced by Hohner in the 1950s. It has an approximately 3-octave range, from C3 to B5.

The Harmonetta combines features of the harmonica and the melodica. It has a keyboard of 32 hexagonal buttons laid out according to the harmonic table, each labeled with one of the 12 pitch classes. Depressing a key makes it possible to play all notes of that pitch class; which octave sounds depends on where the mouth is positioned on the mouthpiece. The instrument is unisonoric, meaning that the same note is played on both blowing and drawing.

Hohner discontinued the Harmonetta in the 1970s.

References

• "Harmonetta 101", Phil Lloyd, pp. 12-16 in Harmonica Happenings, 45, #1 (Winter 2011), Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica.
• "Harmonetta", right column, p. 10 in Music Educators Journal, 43, #2 (Nov.-Dec. 1956), JSTOR 3388299.
• p. 29, Harmonicas, Harps, and Heavy Breathers: The Evolution of the People's Instrument, Kim Field, Rowman & Littlefield, 2000, ISBN 0815410204.
• Méthode facile pour L'Harmonetta Hohner, Helmut Herold and Armin Fett, Hohner, 1957.
• Wie spiele ich Harmonetta?, Hans Lüders and Helmuth Herold, Hohner, c1959.