Just stumbled across this today and I'm not impressed. Prices range from $30 to $100 an hour (I'm doubling the advertised half-hour rate) and almost none of these people, as far as I can tell, are professional blues harmonica players or teachers. Some of them are professional musicians who play four or five instruments, the last of which turns out to be harmonica. One woman--at $80/hr for harmonica lessons!--is a yoga instructor. Some of them seem like rank amateurs who have put out a shingle.
Lucas G., for example, doesn't even list harmonica among the instruments he plays:
Experience teaching the following instruments: -guitar -bass -voice -drums -banjo -ukelele -lap steel guitar
$58/hr. For blues harmonica lessons. From him. Hmm.
But don't take my word for it, since I'm basing my judgments on a fairly quick dip into the personal pages of five of the 30 players featured here, plus a quick reading of the short-form bios of the other 25. Maybe I missed something.
I suspect that some of these people are perfectly good guitar and horn teachers. The question is, if I'm mainly a harmonica player but I decided to pick up guitar five years ago to back myself up, should I really be advertising myself to the world as a guitar teacher? Of course not. But because harmonica isn't a "serious instrument," guitar player/teachers think of it as an easy add-on.
These are all online instructors, because that's all that came up when I put in "Oxford, MS" as my location. Try your own location and report on which local teachers come up.
Randall K has been a music teacher (BA in Music from Univ. of So. Fl.) for over 20 years and is currently a substitute teacher in the Pinellas County School District. He has received eight favorable reviews - from violin, oboe and trumpet students. None from harmonica players.
The rest of the teachers produced by my search were online instructors. Upon perusing several of the "resumes" they appear to be geared toward teaching children. Most of the pictures featured were of them teaching kids. That's a good thing.
My wife and I have five children and every one of them has studied music at one time or another with a teacher in that teacher's home.
Two of my sons currently take piano lessons at their teacher's residence. One of them also takes violin lessons - also at the teacher's residence. Another of my sons takes guitar lessons at a local music (mostly guitar) store and he also takes voice lessons from a professional vocal coach at a the Hoffman Performing Arts Institute. My daughter, who just completed her sophomore year as a Vocal Performance Major at Florida State University also studied at the Hoffman Performing Arts Institute.
I agree with Kudzu that it looks like Harmonica is an afterthought for most of these instructors but if they know the basics and can get kids involved with the harp then I think it is overall positive.
Harmonica teacher with ten years of experience. I love this instrument passionately and can not wait to provide lessons for all who want them. $50.00 an hour .......here is the video he posted
It is pretty easy to get on Takelessons.com. I have been using a trombone instructor that I found on the site. One of the reasons I selected him is because he also taught harmonica. He is also a graduate of the SDSU music program and I heard him play trombone at a jazz concert where he was part of a band backing up Bill Watrous, so he is no slouch on the trombone. I have yet to hear him play harmonica. I think I am a little afraid to. However, he has solid musical fundamentals and the things I am learning from him, timing, shaping a solo, stage etiquette in an improvising group, definitely carry over to my harp playing.
Last Edited by STME58 on May 21, 2015 3:27 PM
Ahem. I'm not on Takelessons.com, but I am in Sydney Australia, and I do take students.
I also have a harmonica teaching site, Harmonica Academy as per below. Maybe that's what they were referring to? It's been since 2008, many thousands of students have passed through its virtual doors. ---------- Tony Eyers Australia www.HarmonicaAcademy.com everyone plays...
Let the buyer beware! Given the awesome free material available, I can't see why anybody needs to pay for lessons... except to support the excellent work of the genuine teachers. ---------- Lucky Lester
Tony, you've been in this business for a while. You're the kind of guy who DOES deserve new students. (I also appreciate the fact that you don't come here and flack your business every chance you get.)
I think the idea of connecting teachers with students through the WWW is a great thing. But in practice, unsupervised, it can devolve.
I have had countless students who played instruments that I do not play. They were all aware of it. I charged the same. The harmonica may be more difficult because of all the physical techniques involved but let's assume a harmonica student already had the capacity to bend and overblow. Isn't studying with a person who knows a boatload about how music works a viable option?
I think the important thing for a teacher is to be honest about your skill level on the actual instrument. I think what is bothersome about this issue is these teachers are presenting themselves as harp teachers because, hey, how hard can it be?
Last Edited by Michael Rubin on May 22, 2015 5:28 AM
Omg... I just found a guy in my area that I know very well, teaching under a fake name!
He claims to teach beginner, intermediate, and advanced. He is one of those guys who plays Dylan style i a rack, and barely better off the rack. Yet he has a good review.... Go figure...
His second position playing sounds like a cat eating lemons...
As I looked through the site, I did not see anything saying they were "expert" harp players. They all said they could teach. Even Michael Rubin's post above said "I have had countless students who played instruments that I do not play."
I do believe this may be a case of "buyer beware", but I see no harm in what the site offers.
What I saw in my area was pathetic. The rest was online and not much better. Real teachers will bring you along much faster and I've spent a lot of time with various teachers for chrom, diatonic and music in general.
Paying for lessons is a great investment if you can find the right teacher. ----------
I'll sidetrack the discussion a little here, but is it essential that an instructor be proficient in that instrument? I only ask because that's not necessarily true in sports. My high school track coach was a great high jump coach, yet he weighed over 250 lbs. Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz is a tiny guy who would have gotten crushed at most high schools. Is performing a real requirement? Shouldn't it be musical theory and a good ear? All the great teachings (advice) on my playing I've gotten from guys like Michael Rubin, David Barret, Joe Filisko, Michael Peloquin, Buzz Krantz, and Jason Ricci have all been about my note selection relating to music theory. Nothing about actual technique. They didn't have to play what they were telling me.
@Phil re "Is performing a real requirement? Shouldn't it be musical theory and a good ear?"
If you're teaching someone who has already mastered all the technique required and simply wants to become more musical - you are correct. But most harp students need a huge amount of technical instruction as well - and I don't think someone who doesn't do it WELL themselves has a chance of helping someone else.
There are some great online instructors (Adam, Jason, Dave Barrett, Tony to name a few) -but man there are are a lot of people out there who simply aren't qualified. Caveat Emptor.
I was recruited some time back to play in a big gospel production put on by a church. The first day of practice, the musical director's director why I had a case of harps with me and couldn't I just use one. I told him someone possibly could, but I need to change harmonicas with the key of the music. Actually, had to new harps because more than a few songs were in A or D flat. I proceeded to tell him I played cross harp most to the time, so my harps would be in still a different key than he conducted. He shook his head and said that he had a masters degree in music and had never heard such. He taught lessons for several instruments and I suppose he could teach harp students music theory well enough, but maybe not. ---------- Ricky B http://www.bushdogblues.blogspot.com RIVER BOTTOM BLUES--crime novel for blues fans available at Amazon/B&N, iTunes, iBook THE DEVIL'S BLUES--ditto HOWLING MOUNTAIN BLUES--Ditto too, now available
@JTThirty...You bring up a good point touching on peoples harmonica ignorance. I've been asked the same question as to why I have all those harmonicas. I tell them about the different keys and so on. Even other experienced musicians sometimes give an odd look as thought they never heard of such a thing. Now that I think of it, you could tell them you need more than one harp for the same reason a drummer needs more than just one drum and just one cymbal. It would be awfully boring an limiting without the others in the kit. ----------
" He shook his head and said that he had a masters degree in music and had never heard such."
Those who know it, show it, those who don't tell you about their formal education!
It seems unusual that you could get to a masters in music without hearing about diatonic instruments. But I guess most music programs focus on the instruments found in the symphony orchestra. I am not knocking formal education, there are some great schools out there.
I get the why do you have so many harps question all the time, but when I give an answer I usually get understanding, not indignation. I like to say that a complete harmonica comes in 12 pieces. I have more than 12, but then many musicians have more than one instrument.
I like the idea expressed by others here that there is general musical knowledge and instrument specific musical knowledge. I would say that learning any instrument is about 50-50 on these. Some instruments are more technical than others. The harmonica is more technical than people not familiar with it realize.
When I asked the proprietor of the music store where my son takes sax lessons if he had a good harmonica instructor, he said there is no such thing, you just learn it out of a book!
Last Edited by STME58 on May 22, 2015 6:22 PM
I can't see how anyone can offer themselves as a professional instructor unless they have advanced skills on the instrument they teach.
A harmonica student needs to know: which instrument to get, which notes are hard to master and why, how to structure blues solos, what are the strong notes, why most of us play in 2nd position, how to start with bending, how to fit bends into solos.
Pause for breath.
Who to listen to, how to communicate with other players, how to fit in around singers, what mic to get, chords, octaves, playing backup, finding the right key, getting a clear sound, harmonica cases, which keys to get first.
And then...
The above is well known to us, and far far more besides. The same must surely be true for anyone who seriously intends to advance a student. ---------- Tony Eyers Australia www.HarmonicaAcademy.com everyone plays...
Well, there are some good people on the list. I see Winslow on it!
Man, he's got a terrible intro line though. Unless you click through to read the whole thing you don't know he's not just part of the rabble. He mentions Harmonica for Dummies in the last paragraph and doesn't mention SPAH at all.
Thanks for your critique, Nate. I figured that focusing on the student is the most important thing. Bragging can make you look like a blowhard. And I've actually had some students tell me they were intimidated by all the accomplishments I'd listed on other sites - they figured they'd need to already be better players before daring to approach someone so accomplished. So I tried dialing it down a bit. =========== Winslow
I wonder, Is it any harder to pick a good harmonica teacher from all those claiming to be one that it is to get someone to teach you Excel, or Chinese or any other thing you might want to learn. How a bout trying to find someone to remodel you kitchen? They all have to prove their qualifications through a licensing process but there is still a great range of qualifications and frequently a large gap between claims of competence and reality.
Because harmonica is perceived by so many who don't play iy to be easy, there might bit a few more novices trying to pass themselves off as pros, but the issue is certainly not unique to the harmonica world.
On the other hand, if all I can do is play simple first position melody lines an the harp and you can't, is there anything wrong with me charging to teach you what little I know. ( I'll even throw in the bad habits for free)
In 2001, I had been a harmonica owner for 3 years. What I knew came from Jon Gindick's book Americana, 'cause that's the book Cracker Barrel had and that's where I got my harmonica. I blew and drew 2 or 3 holes at a time.
To my benefit, 2 guys started a harmonica club where I could interact and learn. From these "amateurs", I finally learned how to play one hole at a time via U-block method. I was ecstatic and on my way to making music.
As STMR58 said, if you know something the other guy doesn't , then you can be a teacher. That's how I learned, from average players. I contend that there are great players that are poor teachers and poor players that are great teachers. For example, I am glad that my first encounter was not from an expert that insisted that I play tongue blocked. I swear I would have remained a harmonica owner and not a player.
I will not be-little nor praise anyone's teaching value based on an advertisement.
I think what everyone here wants are customer reviews posted so we can see what the students thought.
I searched for teachers in my area, there are two--so I might register! Online teachers were suggested, one of them caught my eye since I recently processed a repair order (at Suzuki) for this guy--Roni E., and I knew of him because he had Brendan Power make him a quarter tone chromatic harmonica--see video below. So these guys are professionals, and teachers--you might find your mentor this way? Or do it Adam's way, befriend a street musician--YMMV.
One thing to note is that being proficient or even great at something does not neccessarily translate into being a good teacher. Ex-professional athletes prove this all the time when they try their hand at coaching.
On a side note, I saw the yoga instructor in Adam's link that also claimed to be a harmonica teacher. I am not sure if she is any good at teaching harmonica (nor do I care) as long as she wears those shorts from her yoga video in our lesson.....
Last Edited by Blind Melon on Jun 02, 2015 9:57 AM
