Header Graphic
Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Left-handed people and harmonica playing
Left-handed people and harmonica playing
Login  |  Register
Page: 1 2

boris_plotnikov
435 posts
Jan 31, 2011
9:41 PM
It was initially a joke in the gay thread, but I really noted that bunch of good harmonica players are left handed. Paul Butterfield, William Clarke, Sonny Terry. I'm left-handed and my teacher, the best Moskow harmonica player '09 Trossingen jazz harmonica champion Michael Vladimirov is left-handed too. As a former scientist I want statistics. It seems that around 30% of harmonica players are left-handed, comparing to about 10% among another people. One of the main reason here I suppose is the fact that most traditionally play harmonica in theirs left hands. So
1. Are you left handed?
2. Which hand is main in holding harmonica?
3. Which level you are? Do you have regular gigs?
----------
Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
nacoran
3761 posts
Jan 31, 2011
10:19 PM
I'm a right handed intermediate. I hold the harp in my left hand and do the wahs with my right most of the time. I don't gig regularly.

If the numbers bear it out, I have a theory for you...

It's easier for a left-hander to grab a harmonica and learn than find a left-handed guitar to learn on!

----------
Nate
Facebook
Thread Organizer (A list of all sorts of useful threads)
mikolune
71 posts
Jan 31, 2011
11:28 PM
1. I am left handed
2. I hold the harp with the left hand
3. I am intermediate - I mostly go to jam sessions, and have sit in a few times.

Regarding the statistics, you have to be careful 'cause may be left handed people are most likely to respond to you query :)
gene
659 posts
Jan 31, 2011
11:31 PM
I'm right-handed, bedroom hobbiest, hold the harp in my left hand.

30% of harmonica players are left handed? Do you have stats for mucisians in general? How 'bout artists in general? How 'bout generals in...scratch that last one.
MagicNick
36 posts
Jan 31, 2011
11:35 PM
1. I am left handed
2. I hold the harp with the left hand
3. I am advanced intermediate (I hope) - I play on my own or to friends after a few drinks
Miles Dewar
675 posts
Jan 31, 2011
11:50 PM
I have had Hundreds of arguments with buddies about skateboarding. They claim that, Because they ride "Goofy", it is harder for them to do tricks.

CRAZY


I feel sorry for those left-handed people. It's so much harder for them to write.
Bruce S
22 posts
Feb 01, 2011
12:17 AM
I'm Left handed and I hold the harp in my left hand. I'd describe myself as an intermediate level player. I'm in a band that's rehearsing for gigs and playing out at jam nights.
Miles, it's not harder for left handed people to write, it's just that it's easier if we angle the paper. A lot of teachers don't realize that and insist on having your paper straight. That's why lefties often have a "hook hand" for writing. I don't and was most amused when someone pointed out to me "you hold your pen like a right hander, only left handed..."
Micha
154 posts
Feb 01, 2011
12:23 AM
I am left handed, but play the 'normal way'. That means: keeping it in my left hand and my right hand takes care of the wahs...
Jeffrey van Kippersl
13 posts
Feb 01, 2011
12:26 AM
Well, Im goofy too, it isnt more difficult.

Left handed,
Left,
Intermediate, or dangling somewhere, play at jams (beginning) play with guitarist, a.s.o,

From an energetic perspective theirs a lot of philosophy about it, interesting toppic,

In general, when it comes to feeling flow, I do all kind of boarding / watersports and a little bit of skydiving, lefties always seems to have a perticular / distinct style about their ridin'

Dont know for sure, in art people seem to see / recocgnize left paintings a.s.o.....
Jeffrey van Kippersl
14 posts
Feb 01, 2011
12:26 AM
Well, Im goofy too, it isnt more difficult.

Left handed,
Left,
Intermediate, or dangling somewhere, play at jams (beginning) play with guitarist, a.s.o,

From an energetic perspective theirs a lot of philosophy about it, interesting toppic,

In general, when it comes to feeling flow, I do all kind of boarding / watersports and a little bit of skydiving, lefties always seems to have a perticular / distinct style about their ridin'

Dont know for sure, in art people seem to see / recocgnize left paintings a.s.o.....
captainbliss
417 posts
Feb 01, 2011
1:29 AM
@boris_plotnikov

/1. Are you left handed?/

Nope

/2. Which hand is main in holding harmonica?/

Left

/3. Which level you are? Do you have regular gigs?/

Er... I can play? Well enough to have regular (paying) gigs.

Also...

Fellow Londoner (and fine player!) Lee Sankey is right handed, but plays left (harp upside-down, held in right hand), if that's of any interest?

xxx
Arnoud73
72 posts
Feb 01, 2011
1:30 AM
1: Left handed,
2: Left,
3: Intermediate, i think....maybe I'll post a video soon so others can judge that...
I have a gig once or twice a month...

I think that creative people are often left, maybe that's the reason for the 30% left bluesharpers...

----------
www.sweetportblues.com
http://www.myspace.com/arnoudbluesharp
----------
boris_plotnikov
436 posts
Feb 01, 2011
3:07 AM
BTW I play regular guitar, not left handed
----------
Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
Andy Ley
75 posts
Feb 01, 2011
3:10 AM
Quote "As a former scientist I want statistics. It seems that around 30% of harmonica players are left-handed, comparing to about 10% among another people."

I read somewhere recently (but I can't remember where) that that 10% figure for left handedness in the general population is now creeping up every time it's re-surveyed. This is due to (apparently) the fact that schools used to actively discourage left-handers from using their left hand; and in effect, made them artificailly right-handed (at least that was the case here in the UK, it happened to my dad).

Just a little bit of trivia for you all.

BTE: I am -

1. Lefty
2. Mostly Left
3. Adv Begginner
5F6H
504 posts
Feb 01, 2011
3:27 AM
Left, Left (EDIT - oops! I mean I hold the harp in my RIGHT hand, ...it always takes me few goes to sort the 2 out, NEVER take directions from me!) but the right way up like Errol Linton & the late great Carey Bell - there the similarity sadly ends between me and Carey :-), not gigging regularly but accomplished level of playing.

As with the gay thread, I don't see the point of the question. If you need to ask, then there is obviously no immmediately apparent defining factor that identifies left, or right handed players. If there was a common defining feature we would know it when we heard it. People look on this aspect then apply their own perceptions in a revisionist manner...try and make the facts meet their preference.

Many people who are now right handed were originally left handed & forced to become right handed in their early years at school (writing left to right, with the right hand reduces the risk of trailing your arm over what you have just written & smudging it, you'll notice many left handed people contort themselves & swing their arm & wrist around to avoid this - pen pointing towards them, rather than away from them like a right handed writer), it still happens today. So what happens with the 'left handed creative conspiracy'? Were they born 'left brained' then changed hands and then their brains rewired themselves & they lost creativity? Do we assume anyone who was a right handed creative was initially left biased, later forced to be right? When I was a kid & used to kick a ball, left footed, around my Scottish grandmother's garden, I was taken to task - OK, OK, the flowerbeds, avoid the flowerbeds!...but the most disconcerting aspect to her was that I kicked a ball "like a Catholic"! "Eh, he'll be playin' for Rangers when he grows up eh?" The neighbours might say, "Bah! More like bloody Celtic, look at that bloody left foot!" :-(

Rediculous notion that which hand you prefer to use dictates religious doctrine, it makes witch hunts seem reasonable.

I was born ambidexterous but with a bias to the left, I was forced to become right handed at school, then in my early 20's I had a neurological episode, not unlike a stroke & lost the dexterity in my right hand, so I had to learn to use my left hand again...where does that leave me?

No one has ever told me that I sound "left handed with a right-handed early age convert from left brain", or otherwise. There are many more relevant & useful things pertaining to harmonica playing to discuss. Things like this and the gay thread seem to sprout from insecurity, people looking for comfort from finding other parties with one tiny aspect in common, but people are far more complex than that, not one dimensional. It's like kids buying the same clothes that their favourite pop star wears, it doesn't make those kids internationally reknowned artists...they're still just kids, suffering the delusion that wearing the same clothes as someone who is cool, makes them cool & talented too (and yes, before anyone asks, I was one of those deluded kids too once).

Hey, how many great harmonica players eat/ate pasta? I like pasta, I've seen people eat pasta, some people are harmonica players, does any body know any great players who eat/ate pasta? What evidence can we find to support that pasta eating makes you a great harmonica player? Wow, a gay, left-handed, pasta eating harmonica player, now that would really be something! Greatness would undoubtedly be assured! ;-)

(...and no, there's no evidence that sarcasm makes me any better at playing the harmonica, I just enjoy it.)

Last Edited by on Feb 01, 2011 3:56 AM
WestVirginiaTom
26 posts
Feb 01, 2011
3:46 AM
1. Right handed
2. Hold harmonica with left hand (except when playing in a car)
3. Intermediate player with no regular (or irregular) gigs

I have a wife and two dogs. I am NOT a cat person. Are there "cat people" who play the harmonica? Perhaps that should be discussed in another thread...
The Gloth
569 posts
Feb 01, 2011
3:56 AM
I'm (very) left-handed (mean I couldn't possibly write with my right hand or play a regular guitar) ;

I hold my harp mainly with left hand and make the wah mostly with the right (but, really, it's a move from the two hands ; I hold the harp Adam's way).

I'm an advanced intermediate. I gigged about 15 times last year, but not these times.

I have an issue with tongue-blocking, that I associate with being lefty : I have a tendency to TB on the right, not on the left. Because I blow on the left (I whistle on the left of my mouth too !).

So, my "Tongue-blocking" consists more in doing octaves , the full TB I cannot really do.
Andy Ley
76 posts
Feb 01, 2011
4:35 AM
@The Gloth

Maybe I'm missing something here (please someone, tell me if I am), but surely all that means is instead of doing the TB change-over at hole 2/3, you would be able to keep the same embrochure all the way up to hole 8/9 before having to swing your tounge to the left of your mouth.

I know from experience that it's hard to take instructional material written for right-handed (in this case, right-tounged??!!??) people and flip it around to suit your own bias, but the results can be well worth it. Just a thought anyway.

It's probably me getting a bit left-hand right-wing, but I die a little inside every time someone says they can't do something on account of being left-handed.

Last Edited by on Feb 01, 2011 4:36 AM
captainbliss
419 posts
Feb 01, 2011
5:15 AM
@5F6H:

/Things like this and the gay thread seem to sprout from insecurity [...] Wow, a gay, left-handed, pasta eating harmonica player, now that would really be something! Greatness would undoubtedly be assured!/

*Tongue very firmly in cheek*

And where, I wonder, do sarcasm and mockery come from?

xxx
MarioMS
31 posts
Feb 01, 2011
5:50 AM
Boris: great thread :-)

I hold my harmonica in my left hand. But I write with my right hand!

I gig regulary.
ridge
176 posts
Feb 01, 2011
5:57 AM
1. Left Handed
2. Hold in my left hand
3. High intermediate. I'm not gigging

I've mentioned that I also hold it upside down, but I'll mention it again to further confuse the subject at hand.
5F6H
505 posts
Feb 01, 2011
6:15 AM
@ Captainbliss "And where, I wonder, do sarcasm and mockery come from?" Sarcastic, yes...but I'm not mocking anyone in particular (I really don't care what kind of carbohydrate rich foods you indulge in), other than those who seek to take isolated, largely irrelevant factors and try and turn them into points of great meaning. To some degree it is the human condition to seek out reassuring patterns, to make the world appear a nicer, more comprehendable place...if it works for you, then great...but I find comfort in trying to asscertain the facts & not attributing illusory perceptions to real life. Perception is perception, reality is reality, sometimes the two dovetail, if they don't, then you are on your way to a rude awakening one day.

We're all humans, some are gay, some are left handed, some play harmonica...some fit all 3 groups. If someone wants to conduct some kind of proper research into the proportions of gay & left handed harp players, then great (I don't see the point myself)...but this thread isn't it. Gays & Southpaws might be proportionally represented in the harmonica world (of which this forum is a tiny sample), or they may not...& there could be myriad indirect reasons as to why not. Not least because it is hard to determine who is really left handed or not, for the reasons stated above, skewing the sample. Likewise, we live in enlightened times largely, though there are still communities in which it is difficult for people to be openly gay, just as in the past it may have been harder for gay men to come out...again these factors skew the sample.

If I found out my favourite harp player was gay, it wouldn't make any difference to me, I'll talk harp with anyone...except perhaps a serial killer...unless the harp talk was preventing/delaying me from becoming his/her next victim...I mean, that's if I knew that they were a serial killer to begin with - but then if someone strikes up a conversation about harp, I don't have a list of questions to ask to see if I need to exclude anyone, I just talk harp (which is what I come to this forum to do) & if we have common ground then we'll get on...the other stuff is irrelevant to me in that context.

Do all left handed players sound the same? No. So what's the point is supporting any assertion that there is any relevance connected to it. Do we live in Lilliput, well, do we? ;-)

Last Edited by on Feb 01, 2011 6:25 AM
jaymcc28
317 posts
Feb 01, 2011
6:27 AM
I am left-handed. I initially played while holding the harp in my right hand. However I have recently switched to holding it in my left. It has definitely allowed me to perform better hand technique. It also wasn't a very hard switch.

Oh, I'm an "eternal Advanced Beginner/Early Intermediate" player.

----------

"I say stay long enough to repay all who cause strife."-L. Staley
Old Dog
103 posts
Feb 01, 2011
7:18 AM
While I do, in fact, learn a great deal here at MBH central, there is also a huge entertainment factor.

I am predominantly left-handed, but would say that I too am semi-ambidextrous.
I hold my harp (and pen, and pasta fork) in my left hand.
I'm also an "Eternal Advanced Beginner", but see more in my future.


----------
I used to be young and foolish. Now I'm not so young.
colman
22 posts
Feb 01, 2011
7:31 AM
I`m left handed and hold harp in left hand ,because when i started low notes on left side and numbers 1-10 looking at you.i think hand isn`t so important ,the position of low note makes difference.
also i play a guitar left handed low strings on top...
mikolune
72 posts
Feb 01, 2011
8:36 AM
So far, striking advantage to left handers, although this is may be subject to sampling bias, as said above.
Greyowlphotoart
418 posts
Feb 01, 2011
8:37 AM
Ha, I would call myself cack-handed. I am right handed but hold the harp in my left hand then change to the right hand for warbles!!

Not gigging but I can play OK.




Grey Owl YouTube
Grey Owl Abstract Photos

Last Edited by on Feb 01, 2011 8:38 AM
bluemoose
462 posts
Feb 01, 2011
9:25 AM
1. Mostly left handed. I do fine muscle activities (eat,write,play guitar) left handed, am ambidextrous with stuff like badminton, tennis and do large muscle stuff, kicking, throwing right handed.
2. Hold the harp 'properly', left hand, numbers up.
3. solid advanced intermediate, couple regular jams, looking for a band.
----------
MBH Webbrain-a GUI guide to Adam's Youtube vids
FerretCat Webbrain-Jason Ricci's vids (by hair colour!)
KevinS
11 posts
Feb 01, 2011
9:37 AM
I am a middle intermediate, have played as a stand-in a few times with various bands. I am right handed but typically hold the harmonica with my right (wrong) hand. I am also left eye dominant and shoot a rifle/ shot gun off my left shoulder..... maybe there is a connection. Trying to switch has not been easy. I had earlier noticed Grey Owls switch hitting style and felt some somewhat exonerated.
Michael Rubin
82 posts
Feb 01, 2011
9:38 AM
I am right handed, I hold it mostly in my left, but sometimes with my right. I spent a year playing upside down harp with the low notes to the right. It taught me a lot and it gives my a trick to entertain an audience that is paying attention.
Michael Rubin
captainbliss
420 posts
Feb 01, 2011
9:49 AM
@5F6H:

/I'm not mocking anyone in particular [...] other than those who seek to take isolated, largely irrelevant factors and try and turn them into points of great meaning/

Who probably *do* deserve some (gentle) teasing, yet who don't seem to be playing any part in this thread.

/Do all left handed players sound the same? No. So what's the point is supporting any assertion that there is any relevance connected to it/

An unscientific, statistically invalid, caveat-carrying but nonetheless interesting straw poll to see whether left-handers are (dis)proportionately represented amongst harmonica players? Exploring an issue which may lead to more serious inquiry and/or which might raise questions about the relationship between right/left-handedness, the brain, mind, creativity and musicality?

xxx

EDITED to quote more clearly

Last Edited by on Feb 01, 2011 9:51 AM
stones
20 posts
Feb 01, 2011
9:49 AM
WELL now I'm really confussing my self..... the left side of my brain wants my right hand to scratch my left butt cheek, but my right eye looking into the mirror wants my left hand to slapp myself silly. I'm ambidexterous, I hold the harp in my right hand and do my effects with my left but I can switch in an instant. I can write with both left or right, I do gig pretty regularly I'm in two bands that play very different types of music. and when I was in school I'd freak the other teams out when I would switch hit or go south paw..and I'm a goofy footed surfer.
captainbliss
421 posts
Feb 01, 2011
9:52 AM
@Michael Rubin:

/I spent a year playing upside down harp with the low notes to the right. It taught me a lot and it gives my a trick to entertain an audience that is paying attention./

Cool! Draw reeds on top? Was there any difference?

EDIT: Difference in the response of the reeds, I mean...

xxx

Last Edited by on Feb 01, 2011 9:56 AM
5F6H
506 posts
Feb 01, 2011
10:27 AM
@ Captainbliss: "An unscientific, statistically invalid, caveat-carrying but nonetheless interesting straw poll to see whether left-handers are (dis)proportionately represented amongst harmonica players? Exploring an issue which may lead to more serious inquiry and/or which might raise questions about the relationship between right/left-handedness, the brain, mind, creativity and musicality?"

Ha ha, whilst I think this thread is pointless, it's not stopping me enjoying it.

However, unbiased data collection is part of my day job, guess what? If you title a thread "Left handed people & harmonica playing", who do you think that you are going to get the most response from? You may as well ask, "Hey, left handed harmonica players, how many are you are left handed?" :-)

Surprising approach, considering Boris is a scientist.

This thread has already thrown up players who buck the typical trend of holding the harp in the non-dominant hand & wah-ing with the dominant. I know left handed players who play harp right handed...do they become right handed when they pick up a harp? What about the right handed folk who have no memory of being left handed? We might see old pictures of harp players who have passed, but who hold the harp right handed...is that proof that they were right-handed?

It's nice that this thread allows southpaws to "come out" in a sympathetic environment, but what useful info is being gleaned from it?...fun though, innit.
Jim Rumbaugh
392 posts
Feb 01, 2011
10:31 AM
1) Right handed
2) harp in right
3) Intermediate plus.

----------
intermediate level (+) player per the Adam Gussow Scale, Started playing 2001
captainbliss
423 posts
Feb 01, 2011
10:49 AM
@5F6H:

/However, unbiased data collection is part of my day job, guess what? If you title a thread "Left handed people & harmonica playing", who do you think that you are going to get the most response from? You may as well ask, "Hey, left handed harmonica players, how many are you are left handed?" :-)/

Assuming MBH members' behaviour can be predicted by referencing pyschosocial norms?

/fun though, innit/

Innit!

xxx

EDITED for style

Last Edited by on Feb 01, 2011 10:50 AM
Joe_L
1031 posts
Feb 01, 2011
11:17 AM
"Hey, how many great harmonica players eat/ate pasta?"

I'm not a great harmonica player, but I really enjoy eating pasta. I prefer linguini in a clam and garlic sauce. I'll hold the fork in my left hand. It may not help my harmonica playing, but it sure tastes great!

----------
The Blues Photo Gallery
Greyowlphotoart
422 posts
Feb 01, 2011
11:20 AM
Ha ha Joe I like it:)

Word of advice don't try to warble.



Grey Owl YouTube
Grey Owl Abstract Photos
Michael Rubin
85 posts
Feb 01, 2011
12:10 PM
Captain Bliss,
I did not notice a difference.
boris_plotnikov
437 posts
Feb 01, 2011
1:14 PM
5F6H
You're right, it's far from real scientific research. At least we need 3 control groups: 1) all people, 2) all musicians, 3) musicians, which plays other instrument. Poll have to be made for complete community (SPAH?). It'd allow us to use ANOVA.
You're right topic head is not correct (it's my small language bar I suppose, not so easy to find 100% correct words even in native language). Anyway the one thing we have, there is bunch of left handed players. You comparing to love to pasta can be not a joke, as some hydro-carbonates can effect your technical ability (anyway, I prefer sushi over pasta).
Anyway I know bunch of pro musicians (ok let it be around 100) and all of them (maybe I don't know anout any of them) are right handed. On the other side I know in person 5 pro harmonica players, and one of them is left handed and me too. I have bunches of right-handed students (around 50) and only three left handed. I can say that only one or two of 50 can play and practice regulary, other were lazy, while one of left-handed practiced really hard.
It's not a statistic yet, but it gives some ideas for research. I still think that left handed people are a bit more intended to play harmonica than right handed. This doesn't mean that right-handed people are not so good ((:

P.S. I almost give up my scientific work, I prefer playing harmonica. Who wants idea for research work in sociology?

----------
Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.

Last Edited by on Feb 01, 2011 1:15 PM
Rich
15 posts
Feb 01, 2011
1:26 PM
Left handed

Left holder (numbers up)

Intermidiate player

Play guitar right handed

Not gigging
The7thDave
225 posts
Feb 01, 2011
1:31 PM
1. Left-handed
2. Hold in left hand
3. Intermediate, not gigging

----------
--Dave

--------------------
* BTMFH *
--------------------
5F6H
508 posts
Feb 01, 2011
1:59 PM
@Boris, there is the further consideration, that compared to some instruments at least, the (diatonic)harp is just as easy to master for lefties/southpaws, or to use the official term "sinistrals". So, yeah, I can see that compared to the stringed instruments, that you could see a higher proportion of harp players.

If I had started on chromatic, I would probably have ended up playing "upside down", rather than having to faff about with drilling slides (which I can rarely be bothered to do on all my chroms).

If there was a genuine creative/musical bias towards sinistrals, then surely there would be more left-handed instruments...& paint brushes...

Anyone recommend a decent, reasonable priced, left handed digital camera?
Joe_L
1035 posts
Feb 01, 2011
2:58 PM
Anyone recommend a decent, reasonable priced, left handed digital camera?

That's going to be a tough one. I can't think I've ever seen a camera with the shutter button on the left side of the camera body.

Poll have to be made for complete community (SPAH?).

I don't think that SPAH is representative of the blues harmonica community. I know a lot of harmonica players that have no interest in SPAH. Some of them are left handed, but they all love pasta.

----------
The Blues Photo Gallery
eharp
1136 posts
Feb 01, 2011
3:04 PM
maybe lefties are children at heart and gravitate towards toys?
anbu94
3 posts
Feb 01, 2011
3:14 PM
im a lefty, i have been playin about a year but im not an amazing player yet.
Joe_L
1037 posts
Feb 01, 2011
3:15 PM
@anbu - you need to eat more pasta.

----------
The Blues Photo Gallery
mrdon46
63 posts
Feb 01, 2011
5:13 PM
Lefty, hold the harp in my right hand (upside down-numbers down). Probably be considered an intermediate player.
Stickman
629 posts
Feb 01, 2011
6:50 PM
@ E-harp

"i think i read a long time ago that creative people have a larger % of being left-handed. something to do with the brain's right and left side."

That is old 1970's thinking based on the fact that your left hand is controlled by the right hemisphere of the brain. Creative cognition also stems from the right hemisphere. The assumption is that chirality is associated with brain dominance. There is very little data to support that. What the data does show is that motor function and creativity are controlled by separate and unrelated parts of the same hemisphere. In other words, a left handed person has no grater chance of being "right brained" than a right handed person.
----------
Photobucket

Last Edited by on Feb 01, 2011 6:51 PM
Mojokane
267 posts
Feb 01, 2011
7:03 PM
right handed..hold the harp with right hand and wha with left.
also..I believe, it's worth mentioning, and may be of value, of doing exercises that bridge the 'gap' between the two side. Some very simple and some very hard(depending on your aptitude and devotion). Such as switching hands, or turning the harp around and learning the 'other way'. Like a right handed trap set drummer would switch his kit over so he could feel what it was like to play left handed(and left footed). For me, turning around the harp is really intimidating. But I do switch hands often when lying down. Plus my dominant hand gets tired. And I do notice a little tweek in my brain when I switch. I also notice better control of the entire instrument as a result of this exercise. Maybe someday I'll tackle the 'turn around' exercise.

Last Edited by on Feb 01, 2011 7:04 PM


Post a Message



(8192 Characters Left)


Modern Blues Harmonica supports

§The Jazz Foundation of America

and

§The Innocence Project

 

 

 

ADAM GUSSOW is an official endorser for HOHNER HARMONICAS