Playing The Harmonica to Improve Breathing
- Liam Ward
- Jul 9
- 6 min read
Important: This article is for general educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before starting any new breathing exercise or activity.
Research suggests that harmonica playing may help some people with lung disease improve breathing control and respiratory muscle strength. With that in mind I wanted to create a practical guide for people with breathing difficulties or reduced lung function.
This is a different sort of article to the ones I normally write, and I'm writing it specifically for people with conditions that make breathing hard, like Asthma or COPD. It's not medical advice and I've referenced / provided links to reputable sources where relevant for anything that is outside the scope of my expertise.
I am going to quickly run through the anatomy and physiology of the respiratory system but the focus of this article remains on practice exercises and using the harmonica as a practical breathing tool. The theory will inform the practice exercises by helping you know what to focus on when doing the exercises.
➡️ Don't have breathing problems but looking for a harmonica lesson on breath control? Click here for the free lesson.
Contents:
The respiratory system
Most of us probably learnt about the respiratory system at school. Here is a quick refresher. It's important to remind yourself of this because it will help you understand why harmonica breathing exercises can help. If you want to go further with this refresher from a reputable source, click here for the link to webMD's article on the respiratory system.
The respiratory system manages the flow of air in and out of the body.
The respiratory system anatomy:
The respiratory tract is the path by which air goes from the nose to the lungs (and back out again). It's divided into two: the upper respiratory tract and the lower respiratory tract. The upper respiratory tract goes from the beginning of the airways (the nose) to the pharynx, and the lower respiratory tract is the air path from the trachea to the diaphragm.
Here is a diagram I made. It'll help later if you take notice of where the diaphragm is.
So that's the infrastructure of the breathing system, now here is a refresher on how the system works.
The respiratory system physiology:
Air is taken into the body through the nose (or mouth) and passes through the respiratory tract, into the lungs. Breathing is an essential part of life and is an automatic bodily function e.g. we don't have to think about it. It happens because the brain tells the diaphragm to contract (the diaphragm pushes downwards into the abdomen), which creates more space in the thoracic cavity (where the lungs are). The muscles between the ribcage also contract, causing the ribs to pull up and out and, once again, creating more space for the lungs. This has created a situation where the pressure in the lungs is now lower than the pressure outside, which pulls air (via your nose, through the respiratory tract) into the lungs.
Exhaling happens when the brain stops telling the diaphragm to contract (it therefore relaxes), creating less space in the thoracic cavity. The lessening of space in the cavity, causes the pressure inside the lungs to increase. The air inside the lungs is then at a greater pressure then outside, so the air goes from the area of higher pressure (the lungs) to the area of lower pressure (outside) - e.g. you exhale/breathe out.
The following diagram shows the mechanism of breathing in action:
Although it is, in essence, one complete action, you can think of breathing as being in two parts: inhalation (breathing in) and exhalation (breathing out). This is a useful way to think about it when we look at the harmonica practice exercises for breathing problems.
The exercises I have included naturally encourage diaphragmatic breathing, where the diaphragm plays a larger role in moving air efficiently.
The harmonica and the respiratory system
Harmonica playing can help improve breath control, strengthen respiratory muscles, and encourage more controlled breathing patterns. This is one reason harmonica therapy and harmonica breathing exercises are sometimes used in pulmonary rehabilitation.
The harmonica is played entirely through breath. It's an unusual instrument because it uses both parts of breathing: inhalation (breathing in) and exhalation (breathing out) to produce the musical notes. If you pick up your harmonica, put it to your lips, and suck air in (breathe in), you'll make a sound. If you pick up your harmonica, put it to your lips, and blow air out (breathe out), you'll make a different sound.
In the harmonica world, 'draw' means to inhale (suck air in) and 'blow' means to exhale (push air out).
People with breathing problems often struggle with both inhalation and exhalation. Therefore the fact you can practice both draw notes and blow notes makes the harmonica a useful tool for practising breathing control. Harmonica playing also creates mild resistance to airflow, similar in principle to some respiratory training devices. That’s part of why it can help breathing control.
If you didn't have a harmonica, you could get some improvement by alternating blowing out candles then sucking a straw, or by blowing up a balloon and then sniffing but that isn't practical and, most importantly, the harmonica will produce a fun sound, which will keep you motivated and make progress more obvious.
Simple harmonica exercises to help improve your breathing
Here are some very simple harmonica exercises for you. Remember, always consult a qualified healthcare professional before starting any new breathing exercises or activity.
You can use any diatonic harmonica. If you want to sound like I do in these demos, you'll need a diatonic harmonica in the key of C. I recommend a Hohner Special 20. If you don't already have one, click here* for a link to one. If you want to learn all about the different harmonicas, click here for my free guide.
EXERCISES
(1) Practice these exercises daily
(2) Listen to the audio file
(3) Repeat what you hear
Stop immediately if you feel dizzy, strained, or uncomfortable, and consult your healthcare professional before continuing.
A note on notation
Harmonica notation is simple:
Numbers alone = blow (exhale)
Numbers with minus sign = draw (inhale)
Example:
4 = blow into hole 4
-4 = draw through hole 4
You can find out more about harmonica notation by clicking here for my free beginner's guide.
Exercise 1 - Relaxed Breathing (Chugging)
These exercises are all about warming up. You want to be as relaxed as possible. Cover holes 1, 2 and 3 with you mouth and gently take relaxed breaths in and out (in harmonica speak: draw and blow).
Your aim is to follow the breath pattern of each exercises on a continuous loop. You want to imagine a beat so that you are playing rhythmically. Take it nice and slowly and make your mouth, cheeks and jaw as relaxed as possible.
Harmonica tab:
-123
123
Harmonica tab:
-123
-123
123
123
Harmonica tab:
-123
-123
123
Harmonica tab:
-123
123
123
Exercise 2 - Single Note Breathing
In these exercises, I am going to blow or draw on hole 4.
Cover hole 4 with your mouth and gently blow or draw.
Don’t worry if your note doesn’t sound “clean” when you try the exercise. Since we are using the harmonica here as a respiratory rehabilitation and training tool, it doesn’t matter if you can’t play a clean, single note.
Harmonica tab:
-4
4
Harmonica tab:
-4
-4
4
4
Harmonica tab:
-4
-4
4
Harmonica tab:
-4
4
4
As I mentioned, it doesn't matter if your playing doesn't sound exactly like the demos here. The goal here isn’t perfect harmonica technique. These exercises are designed to help you develop breath control and respiratory coordination through simple playing patterns.
Once these exercises start feeling comfortable, you may want to explore some beginner harmonica techniques in more depth.
Next steps
You might like to go further on some of the harmonica topics we've covered here. Click on the name of a lesson below to learn more:
If you'd like to continue developing your breathing control while learning harmonica skills, my Complete Beginners Harmonica Course takes you step-by-step through the fundamentals in a structured, beginner-friendly.
You can access this either as a member of my online harmonica school or as a stand-alone course. Here is a link to month 1 of the course:
I hope you've enjoyed these harmonica practice exercises for people with breathing problems.
References:
*You don't need to use this link. If you do, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
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