Harmonica School Blog

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Nov 26

Holiday Gift Idea: ArtistWorks Gift Certificates!

Need a Holiday gift idea? This Holiday Season share the gift that keeps on giving with an ArtistWorks Gift Certificate! They make the perfect Holiday gift for any musician or artist in your life (maybe that person is you, so put this on your wish list!).

We also have physical Gift Cards available on Amazon for the following schools:

Purchase here: ArtistWorks Gift Certificates

Posted in Gift Certificates, holiday

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Nov 22

New Blues Harmonica Lesson

Greetings, we've got a new harmonica lesson up: "Blues In A - On a C Harp". Click on the image to have it open in a new window, or find it in the Advanced or Jazz lesson areas.

Posted in harmonica, Howard Levy

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Nov 20

Harmonica Heroes on NPR featuring Howard Levy

Howard Levy was recently featured on the NPR program "The Colin McEnroe Show" along with some other great harmonica players including Don DeStefano, Chris DePino, Trina Hamlin, and Ryan Hartt.

This is a really cool show that gets deep into the history of harmonica and tackles topics like diatonic vs. chromatic, female harmonica players, different genres of harmonica music, and a whole lot more.

Click here to listen to the show on NPR!

Posted in harmonica, Howard Levy

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Nov 17

Playing Harmonica 7/8 - Intermediate Lesson

howard

Sometimes the concept of playing in "odd time meters" can be intimidating. In this informal lesson, I try to show some easy ways of playing in 7/8 rhythm. 7/8 is a very common time meter in Eastern Europe, parts of the Middle East, and is getting more and more popular in music in general. Once you understand how to divide the 7 beats into two 2's and and a 3, it becomes much easier to play and to improvise in this time meter. You can find this lesson in Intermediate and in the Indian/Middle Eastern/Eastern European area (or just click on the picture).

Posted in harmonica, Howard Levy

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Nov 9

G Dorian Blues- Intermediate Harmonica Lesson

howard

This is a great tune to learn for many reasons. It uses the Dorian Mode for the 1,4, and 5 chords. The melody has a slightly mysterious feeling to it - it's easy to play, there is a .pdf document of the melody and chords in standard music notation AND harmonica tab (!), as well as a backing track to play along to. It is a different way to play the Blues and will introduce Blues players to the modal Jazz approach in a very simple and direct way. Find it in the Intermediate Harmonica area (also the Jazz area), or just click on the picture to jump right to it.

Posted in harmonica, Howard Levy

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Nov 6

Howard plays Hendrix

howard

This was from a German TV special on the music of Hendrix in Stuttgart in 1995. I got to play with many great musicians, including Trilok Gurtu, Jack Bruce, and Terry Bozzio. Somebody just put it up on my Facebook page - I have never seen this before, almost don't remember playing it...I played parts of my Chamber Suite (that I had just written) and a little of the Bach Passacaglia in my intro. I am playing a Low F Golden Melody - I think with a double thick reedplate, customized by Joe Filisko.

Posted in harmonica, Howard Levy

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Nov 4

"Harmonica Intensive" with Howard Levy

Howard Levy will be doing a harmonica workshop called "Harmonica Intensive" in Outer Banks, NC from March 27-30. Space is limited to 10 people and the workshop is intended for intermediate to advanced harmonica players. For more information and to apply visit the Class Acts on Tour website.

Posted in Harmonica Intensive with Howard Levy

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Oct 28

Russian Student Learns Harmonica

AW: What's your name?

AZ: Andrey Zaitsev.

AW: How old are you?

AZ: 34.

AW: Where are you from?

AZ: Russia.

AW: What instruments do you play?

AZ: Guitar for 15 years and I just started learning harmonica.

AW: How many years have you been playing harmonica?

AZ: My first experience with harmonica was 2 years ago, but I did not really take it seriously - it was more for fun, you know, I was trying to play simple melodies and that was it. Finally a month ago or so, I started to practice more in depth and got totally amazed by the instrument.

AW: What's your name?

AZ: Andrey Zaitsev.

AW: How old are you?

AZ: 34.

AW: Where are you from?

AZ: Russia.

AW: What instruments do you play?

AZ: Guitar for 15 years and I just started learning harmonica.

AW: How many years have you been playing harmonica?

Posted in harmonica, Howard Levy, Music Education, online learning

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Oct 9

World Harmonica Championship: Trossingen, 1993

We stumbled across this old rare footage from the World Harmonica Championship in Trossingen, Germany 1993 - It's in 3 parts on YouTube, which we've featured below:

The quality isn't great, but for being 20 years old, it's really cool see this at all. Here's what Howard had to say when we asked him about these:

"Wow, this stuff is pretty good. At 1:45 of the first part I play my tune "To Me You Are a Song" on an Ab harp.

In the 2nd part I start with "Round Midnight" and then at 3:00 I go into a Blues in all 12 keys, staying on the Ab harp. At 7:40 I return to the bridge of "Round Midnight" ... pretty slick. I don't remember doing any of this...

In Part 3 I start with "Love For Sale" on an Eb harp. Then at the end I go into my Beethoven violin concerto cadenza on a G harp."

Posted in harmonica, Howard Levy

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Sep 17

Howard Levy on the Harmonica Overblow

The Harmonica Overblow - intimidating, yes. But, it is possible. And who better to break it down than the one who coined the phrase? Lucky for his students here, you can just study his harmonica lesssons here which take you step by step through the harmonica overblow and overdraws. Howard has also written a lot about first discovering the harmonica overblow on his website Levyland, which is a fascinating insight into what it was like to pioneer this new way of playing diatonic harmonica. To read all about how Howard first came upon harmonica overblows and overdraws, click here or on the picture.

Posted in harmonica, Howard Levy

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