Playing harp is apparently good for you

Some years ago, David Harp told me about his work with the harp and respiratory therapy, the general idea being that playing harmonica helps you breathe better.  I listened at the time with polite but not very intense interest.  After all, what I cared about what how good the harp sounded, not so much what it was doing for my health. 

As I grow older, though, I’m beginning to think that the stuff David was talking about is more and more important. When I did a seminar in London last week for the National Harmonica League, I noticed that the people in the room–a wide range of ages and both genders–generally looked pretty fit, certainly more so than the population at large.  And when I go to harmonica conventions like SPAH, what I see mostly are people whose weight is under control (and whose breathing is more so). 

Playing harmonica is a physical activity, sometimes intensely so, and if you’re playing with any intensity at all it aerates the lungs pretty effectively.  I can’t prove that it makes you healthier, but that’s what the evidence of my eyes tells me.

Like I said, the older I get, the more I appreciate stuff that keeps me healthy, especially if it’s something I enjoy.  Luckily for me, harmonica seems to fall into that bag.