SuperBee
6764 posts
Jul 19, 2020
3:32 AM
|
I dunno,this is a harmonica story but it's not modern blues except maybe in spirit.
My mother is 93 years old. She lives in an aged-care facility which is 5 hours distant from me. With the pandemic situation I haven't been able to visit for quite a while but this last weekend I made the trip.
When she was a schoolgirl (IE, in the 1930s), the harmonica was the main "music education" instrument.
I gave her a Hohner ProHarp some years back and had heard her trying to play it.
Yesterday I showed her some prewar marine bands which I recently received.
Immediately she said "that looks like the harmonica I used to play".
I handed her the G harp and she looked closely at it, turning it over in her hands. She did some tentative blow and draw, then said "oh its upside down",and turned it over, whereupon she commenced to play a tune.
Now, I've heard her play the Pro Harp before, but this was something else. I was rather impressed. When she finished, she said "I think you found my harp". I guess I kinda did at that. It was like a little trip back 80 years or so, helped along by a little old time machine.
Last Edited by SuperBee on Jul 19, 2020 3:33 AM
|
Rontana
550 posts
Jul 19, 2020
4:23 AM
|
Thanks for relating this story . . . it's a great one . . . and it's wonderful you (and the pre-war MB) could take your mom back in time.
My folks (98 and 95) are also in facilities. Both are pretty much beyond the point of much cognitive awareness.
----------
Ron Marr Custom Wood Carving
|
jbone
3243 posts
Jul 19, 2020
4:39 AM
|
Doug, that is a precious moment you brought to your Mom.
You are blessed.
----------
Music and travel destroy prejudice.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1109912442677135/?ref=bookmarks
Reverbnation
Facebook
|
Lou
103 posts
Jul 19, 2020
12:34 PM
|
Pretty cool & nice story thanks for sharing, and to be able to play tune at 93 is great.
Lou
|
BronzeWailer
2136 posts
Jul 20, 2020
12:16 AM
|
Great story Bee. What a joy it must have been to see your mother after being separated by the current situation. Awesome that she could play a tune too!
BronzeWailer's YouTube
|
Johnny Charles
99 posts
Jul 20, 2020
7:06 AM
|
Love this SB...thanks
|
Raven
185 posts
Jul 21, 2020
10:52 AM
|
Oddly enough, it was my mom who first introduced me to harp. She always liked chromatic, so when we moved her near us when she was just about 80, she wanted a new keyboard and a Hohner 240. So I got them for her. When she passed away 3 years ago at 99 (Still living on her own in a senior apartment), I inherited her instruments. I can still remember heading downtown as a kid to the local hobby store and buying my first harp for a buck.
|
jbone
3244 posts
Jul 21, 2020
3:46 PM
|
Come to think of it, when I was 16 my Mom called me to the dining table where there was a box of stuff. In the box were several items which had belong to my father, who died when I was 4 years old. She had saved these things until I was at a halfway responsible age.
Among the things in the box, of which I could choose 2, were Dad's medals from WWII, and a Hohner Marine Band that Mom's father had given my Dad the year I was born, 1955. I doubt it got much use.
I took that harp as a legacy, and sadly it didn't last long as I tried to force it to do what I heard the big guys doing. I still have the medals, through many trials and tribulations over 49 years since I was that young man at the dining table with Mom.
So while I credit Grandfather with turning me on to harmonica music, I do wish to credit Mom with giving me my first instrument.
Thanks guys for jogging this memory.
-----
Music and travel destroy prejudice.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1109912442677135/?ref=bookmarks
Reverbnation
Facebook
|
