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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Teaching Children the Harmonica
Teaching Children the Harmonica
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BigBlindRay
104 posts
Apr 01, 2011
11:01 PM
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Hi MBHers
I recieved an inquiry from a mother who has a very keen 5 year old daughter who wishes to learn the harmonica. I was asked if I teach children and although I have had some experience, never with a 5 year old!
It got me thinking - What are the best book resources available for Childhood education in regards to Diatonic Harmonica?
I thought I would throw this out there to you all for advice while I scour the online bookstores for resources.
Cheers!
Big Blind Ray's YouTube Channel
Mavis and her China Pigs
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eharp
1263 posts
Apr 02, 2011
5:11 AM
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i think hohner makes a harp and book for kids.
the harp is about the size of a diatonic but only has less holes. i think it comes with an instruction book.
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Maciekdraheim
75 posts
Apr 02, 2011
5:33 AM
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Suzuki manufactures the Airwave model, which is a 10 hole diatonic in bigger and ergonomical body, the holes are separated from each other more than in normal harp, it has no shard edges and so on. Ronnie Shellist in one of his youtube vids shows it. It has a intructional book for children in this set.
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AW
71 posts
Apr 02, 2011
6:11 AM
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Turboharp advertises a kids harmonica book. I've never seen it but it sounds like what you're asking about.
http://turboharp.bluearcher.com/Products.asp?pid=28&tid=4&did=&sid=
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waltertore
1253 posts
Apr 02, 2011
7:27 AM
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the hohner rainbow harmonica was one I piloted in the Austin public school district when I was a hohner endorsee. This was back in the mid 80's and the harp then had a color coded cover, wood comb and 4 holes that were set far apart in a marine band sized harp. It came with a color coded song book. I don't know if they still make it or not but kids loved it. Hohner had plans of it nudging out the recorder in the public schools and then create a massive increase in harp players as those kids grew up. It was probably the only time hohner gave anything away. They sent me a huge box with hundreds of harps in it. Also included were hats, patches, posters, t-shirts that I was to use as rewards. Walter
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Last Edited by on Apr 02, 2011 7:29 AM
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dougharps
59 posts
Apr 02, 2011
11:25 AM
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I remember mistakenly having ordered some very simple materials that David Harp put out years ago that seemed aimed at a younger student and had pictures and simple explanations. I gave them away. Here is his website:
http://www.davidharp.com/beginning_har_books.html
Please let us know about how teaching a kid goes. I have assisted at a group session for kids and beginners, and coached a few players, but haven't taken on teaching yet. I thought I would use Winslow's book when I finally teach, but it is too advanced for a younger kid.
Maybe someone should do a seminar about teaching teaching?
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Doug S.
Last Edited by on Apr 02, 2011 11:26 AM
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harmonicanick
1147 posts
Apr 03, 2011
12:53 AM
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The guy to ask about teaching children is Ben Hewlett who has set up and is running harmonica classes for children in schools in the UK
www.harmonicaworld.net
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ElkRiverHarmonicas
617 posts
Apr 03, 2011
7:49 AM
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I'm the fourth generation musician in the Payne family, so I've got a bit of burden to continue the Payne musical tradition with my children.
My daughter Audrey, 10, considers herself quite the vocalist and is in the school choir. My son, 9, has incredible potential. It's a little frustrating that he doesn't pick up his instruments more than he does, but he is still very young.
But here's the thing, neither child was pushed. Ever. There is just this multitude of instruments available to them and they play around on them when they want. They ask questions when they want.
The thing is, if you push children hard to play music, one of two things will usually happen:
1) they will do exactly what you say and they will never develop the natural creativity they need to forge new ground as musicians. In short, they will know how to play, but will never be any good.
2) they will rebel against music entirely.
That's primarily from a parent's point of view, but as a teacher, you have to watch about pushing. Odds are she will lose interest. The question is, will she pick it back up?
Children will usually come into their own as musicians in the early teen years. Everything they learn now is background for when that happens. It happened to me when I was 12 or 13. Guess how old I was when I started playing harmonica? I was five, but I didn't get serious until about age 12.
So, keep that in mind. Keep it fun. Your goal will be to keep her interest up as long as possible and instill a love for the instrument that will resurect itself later.
I happen to do a lot of school programs about harmonica for kids as young as preK. I'm one of the Artsbridge Artists in the Schools here, but I'm a substitute teacher's aide and I work in Kindergarten pre K often and sometimes the teacher will have me put on a little program while I'm there. One of the things I do is show them how it works. What you can do is take a ruler and hold it over the end of the desk and smack it so it vibrates like a reed. Then shorten the part of the ruler that's hanging over to make it vibrate at a higher pitch, lengthen it to make it lower. I then put a rubber band on the ruler to show that when you weight the end of the reed, it gets lower. Then I move the rubber band up and down the reed to show that weight distribution, plus length, changes pitch.
They will remember that ruler for a long time. Probably play with them themselves. That's your goal here.
Now there is a good melodica program for teaching about music, the triola. It's designed especially for kids that age. My kids got quite an education from them and still play them sometimes. The keys are color coded with the sheet music, Cs are red, Gs are green, etc.
more info here:
www.elkriverharmonicas.com/Triola.html
Musically, the most important thing my son took from it was the relationship of notes. You can play more than one note at a time, so you can learn about fifths, chords, thirds, octaves, etc. It's a good foundation for him, once he breaks out on his own as a musician.
David
www.elkriverharmonicas.com
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"There are only two things money can't buy - true love and homegrown tomatoes." - Lewis Grizzard
Last Edited by on Apr 03, 2011 7:51 AM
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