The 280 is the original and basic four-octave chromatic. Many of the great performances of the past in classical, jazz, popular music, and blues were played on this model. Many other models are available from Hohner and others, but there’s no reason you can’t get a good sound and learn on the venerable 280. Many players succumb to HAS (Harmonica Acquisition syndrome) and you may, too, once the bug bites you deeply enough. But for now, dig in on the 280 and you’ll be handsomely rewarded.
Windsaver valves are little strips of plastic (originally leather) that increase the airtightness of the instrument and help to focus tone by directing all the air to the reed being played.
All the reeds in the harmonica are mounted on two reedplates. Each reed is mounted over a slot cut to precisely fit its shape and allow it to vibrate through the slot when air is applied to it.
In chromatic harmonicas, blow reeds are mounted on one side of the reedplate, and draw reeds are mounted in the opposite side of the same plate. Each hole in the harmonica has a blow reed and a draw reed. (And of course, when you press the slide in, you get another blow-draw pair tuned a semitone higher, mounted on the other reedplate.)
When you exhale into the harmonica, your breath pushes the blow reed into its slot, and it springs back, with the repeating cycle creating the note. But at the same time, air will escape through the draw reed’s slot. The draw reed won’t sound, but the escaping air is leakage that weakens the tone of the blow reed and reduces efficiency of the applied airflow. But with a valve mounted over the draw slot (the draw reed is on the other side of the reedplate), the valve gets pressed against the draw slot, shutting off airflow through that slot, and all the air goes to the blow reed.
Inhaling will pull the draw reed into its slot to start the cycle of vibration, but some air will also leak in through the blow slot. Mounting a valve on the other side of the blow slot prevents that leakage, as that valve will be pulled against the blow slot, blocking leakage and allowing all the air to come in through the draw reed.
Your clarinet training will stand you in good stead with the harmonica, but the embouchure is very different and, most importantly, you need to train your inhaled breaths to sustain and produce tone, not merely refill your lungs quickly for blow notes. The throat and oral cavity need to stay open while inhaling and your embouchure, instead of producing tone by pressing the reed, is chiefly engaged in directing an unimpeded flow of air to the location(s) of the reed(s) you wish to play, with both lips and tongue engaged in the selection.
In Kettlewell’s book, I’d advise you to give greater weight to what’s in the interviews with expert players than to the playing advice from the far less experienced authors.
De Aloe’s book may be a bit advanced for someone who is still working to train muscle memory, ear, and mental mapping to locate the notes on what is essentially a blind person’s instrument. Unlike the piano, the harmonica has almost no direct visual component in locating the notes. And unlike the clarinet, the harmonica does not keep the note selectors (the fingers in the case of the clarinet, lips and tongue in the case of the harmonica) in the same location relative to the body of the instrument.
I teach by Skype and have developed teaching material for players new to the chromatic, in addition to authoring two well-known books for diatonic harmonica, Harmonica For Dummies and Blues Harmonica For Dummies. Feel free to get in touch if you feel you could benefit from lessons.
by the way, you can get in touch with me directly at winslowyerxa@yahoo.com and can read about my teaching philosophy at my website, http://winslowyerxa.com
Winslow