Harmonica, harmonica workshops, basic blues, hot dogs, and more! skiplandt@sbcglobal.net    HARMONICA! What better instrument? Inexpensive, portable, easy to learn the basic skills...yet plenty of room for growth in range and tone of your playing. The best way to learn is in group classes. Why? Because you learn by playing -- and the pressure is off because most of the time it's someone else doing the playing. Also because there's lots of time for questions, and you quickly see that everyone has the same questions, including the ones you thought were too foolish ask. (If you're in one of my classes, take this to heart: ask!) What else can help? There's all sorts of help on the Internet -- hundreds of sites. The Jon Gindick site is a good one, with some free lessons. But there are many more as well, like harmonicalessons.com. Note that all of these are commercial sites, trying to sell you something. Before you buy on-line, though, I suggest stopping by the Old Town School store or some other music store and browsing through their books. That way, you'll know better what is and what isn't included. PLAYING SINGLE NOTES Along with developing a good sense of the "beat," this is the most basic skill in playing the harmonica. While you can have great fun without playing single notes, to progress (and especially to play the blues), you must have them. To get single notes, wet and purse your lips -- push 'em out forward -- and then press the harp into the soft, wet part to form a seal around the harp, making an "0" or oval. Your lips should extend over and under the harp. Many descriptions of getting single notes say something like this, and they are right. I suggest something else as well. When pursing and pushing your lips out, think of leaving in the middle just the smallest "o" you can imagine -- a pinhole's worth. Then as you're pushing forward, keep that hole as small as you can. You don't to release a lot of air into the harp, so a small hole is fine. Try blowing a single hole, maybe the 4. Can you hear it as a single note? If you can't tell, try this: using both hands, cover the 1-3 holes with one thumb, and the 5-7 holes with another, so all you can see is the 4 hole, between those two thumbs. Now try blowing the 4 -- that's what it sounds like as a single note. Go back and forth from "thumbs on" to "thumbs off" to see. Here's another "tip" -- quite literally. Some students have found that by tipping the harp downward on to the soft, wet part of the lower lip helps them get single notes. Others have found that this tipping is helpful in getting the "blues notes" when you're ready for them. (But that's not until you are consistently getting clear single notes!) About now, you may be saying: Hold on! What about the piece of paper in the harmonica case? It tells me to use my tongue to cover up some holes, and to play out of the corner of my mouth. True enough. That's one style, and a good one. But the easiest and best way to learn -- the way almost everyone learns -- is by the pursed lip method described above. That applies to most of the harmonica greats, who learned the "tongue" method later. Why not start that way? First, it's awkward. Second, if you're interested in playing the blues, getting blues notes is much harder. Third, leaving your tongue free lets you get some great sounds not available if you're using it to block off holes. Fourth, some of the greatest players use and recommend the pursing method (lip-blocking). Finally, if you want to learn the tongue-blocking method, you can always to that later. THE HIGH NOTES Problems with the high holes? There's a secret to them. When you get no sound, your instinct says "blow harder!" Wrong! The reeds are very short: blow softer! Too much air stresses them and the reeds freeze up. (I can't explain the physics, but try this and see. This is again a case of "less is better." A RACK TO ACCOMPANY SINGING A current student has started playing with a rack -- and came up with a great way to practice. She does all her playing, including in class, with that rack around her neck holding the harp to her mouth. (An obvious and great idea, but one that never occurred to me). There are some disadvantages in playing with a rack. You can't use your hands to shape the tone, and (at least in my experience) you need to keep messing with the rack to keep it in the right position -- easily accessible for playing but comfortable for singing as well. That said, the rack gives a great boost to your playing, letting you fill in chords behind your playing. Choice of racks can make a big difference. At this writing, the Different Strummer has two models of rack, each priced at about $15.00. The Hohner model looks like the sturdier of the two and can fit any shape of harp -- maybe even two at once, if you can find a way to brace them securely. But it has only one adjustment. The Jim Duncan "Harp Handle" has two adjustments and is made of wire. As a result, it can be adapted much better to whatever position you need to use it comfortably. Its disadvantage: it can hold only those harps with squared-off ends, i.e. ones that could fit between brackets: [ ]. But that includes the Marine Band, Special 20, Lee Oscar, Old Town School harps, and most others. And it holds them very securely, giving you maximum control. If you're rack-playing with a guitar, be sure to try this. Put a C harp in your rack. Then play that wonderful chord progression in C -- C, Em, Am, G, counting 1-2, 3-4, 1-2, 3-4, and repeating it, changing chords every 2 beats. To start with, try any blow note while you're making those changes. Then try other blows, and then occasional draws. You'll find some great sounds. Only have a D harp? Just capo up! I hope this is helpful. As always, if you have a question or comment, give me a call. RUNNING OUT OF AIR? Relax, it's not you. Your harp doesn't take an enormous amount of air. The less that you have taking up space in your mouth, the better. You need only about as much air as if you were drawing it in through a cocktail straw -- and playing louder just requires drawing it in harder. Also remember than when playing "cross" harp (drawing in a lot), you should probably start with exhaling, so there's room in your lungs! If these subjects haven't come up yet, remind me to talk about them in class. PRACTICE VS. FUN Personal style, that's what this is about. But it's also about how to develop your playing. Repetition is the best teacher. If (somehow)you pick up your harp several times a day, just for a minute or two, to work on single notes, or a tune, you'll do much better than sitting down to practice two or three times a week for longer periods of time. I suggest putting your harp on you mail table -- and every time you pass, pick it up and play a bit. Not practical? Find some other way to play, just a bit, every day. My job as your teacher is make this fun. That's why I'm always encouraging students to find a song that they want to play -- every better, a sing they NEED to play. If I can get you started with something driving you from inside, everything else will follow. True, not all music is readily accessible to someone new on the harp. But a huge amount is playable by a new student, even if they've never played an instrument before. The main requirement is that it not have too many notes, that those notes not be fancy "blues" notes, and that you know the song well enough to hum it. Within the last couple of months I had a student whose dad, now gone, played Irish tunes in pubs. My student wanted to do the same, and we came up with some songs. They included a song he brought in on tape, called "My Old Man," which for obvious reasons had captured his heart. By the end of Harp I, he played beautifully -- and is still playing. It's a joy for him, and a special joy for me. So my objective is to eliminate the distinction, if there is one for you, between practice and fun. If the song is one I don't know, make me a "knock off" tape from which to learn it, and we can go from there. CROSS HARP vs. STRAIGHT HARP What is cross harp? The simplest way of explaining this is to say that the harmonica was originally intended to play in one key: the key stamped on it. When you blow into your D harp anywhere, you get a D chord. That's the obvious, natural, folksy key in which to play a D harmonica. Starting on the 4 hole, your D harp has all the notes -- doe ray me fa so la tee doe -- in the key of D. But the key of D shares many notes with other keys. When you draw on the 1, 2, and 3 holes at once you get an A chord -- your harp has many of the notes in that key too. When you play songs that start with that chord, drawing with 1, 2, and 3 holes together, you're playing in "cross harp." So playing cross harp on a C harmonica is playing in G, and on an A harmonica, in E. The great advantage of "cross" is that it gives you the blues notes. Ask in class and I'll show you the same song, straight and cross. BENDING NOTES A "bent note" is one that Mr. Hohner did not intend to put on his harmonica. It's one of those blues sounds, that is between notes that ARE on the harp. How do you get one? There are many ways of doing it -- I once put together a list of ways. But they all involve moving air in or out of your mouth in a manner that "surprises" the reed(s) in one of the holes. For a draw bend, you get the air to come into your mouth in a controlled way that pulls on one of those little metal reeds. The key word is "control." Once you know how, that control comes easily, and even in a relaxed manner. But when you're starting, you may want to think "strenuous!" Tighten up all your facial muscles and suck in -- maybe making an "ee-uu" sound, so that the air coming in immediately goes down. (You can even tip the harp down a bit to make this happen). Or try this -- without a harp. Start to say the word "you" (try this right now!)feeling where your tongue is as you say both the "yaaa" and the "ooo" parts. Feel the tongue go down on the "oooo"? NOW, start to say "you" again, but stop right away, on the "Yaaa" part. OK, now keep your mouth in that "yaaa" position and draw in, right over your tongue. And WHILE the air is moving over it, do the "ooo" part, which should move your tongue (doesn't it?) Next step, do this while freezing the muscles: in your tongue, in your jaw, in your lips. Make it STRENUOUS, and draw in again. Finally, try this with your harp, drawing on a single hole: maybe the four. Do you hear that note do something a little different? If so, you got a bend. These are a couple of the many ways to learn bending. There are many, many more. If you want to work on bending, think about attending my Blues Bending Workshop, March 29th, at the Old Town School of Folk Music, starting at 3 p.m. Note: to benefit, you'll need to be able to play clear single notes. You may be able to signup on line -- try going to oldtownschool.org and clicking on "classes." It's been working, off and on, and you may be lucky. Or sign up for a class -- they run every eight weeks, with my weekly classes meeting on Wednesdays. Harp I runs from 6 to 7:30. Harp II starts at 8 p.m., and each class begins working on/developing "the bends." But you don't need to come into the class doing the bends; every song has a "no bends" option. You can sign up on line at oldtownschool.org. I also do a monthly class for beginners, and a monthly class for advanced players, and beginners workshops every few months. Starting in 2005 I'll also have morning classes, Mondays and Fridays. Check with oldtownschool.org to sign-up on line, or call 773 728-6000.