Musicology Annotation << Back Performing techniques and principles of variation in the tradition of playing the piano harmonica Eseniya Petrova Nowadays the playacting on the piano harmonica is becoming the most revealing part of the people’s culture of the South Russia: the instrumental music is wide spread currently, the tunes are adopted by the newcomers from experienced folk artists, they take the central place in the genres system of the local musical tradition. The performers on the piano harmonicas use different principles of variation concerning all of the musical form characteristics: harmonic, melodic, textured, rhythm and accent and compositional variation. The interrelation of the instrument construction features, the techniques and ways of playing the piano harmonica, that determine the individual performer’s style, comes out in the studied tradition. The tradition mediums invented the ways of playing that can be performed only on the piano harmonica thanks to it construction. Keywords: Eletskaya piano harmonica, traditional game, performing techniques, principles of variation. Contacts: E–mail: petrova-eseniya@mail.ru Pp. 27-34.