Mud Ball Musings CD Review

Good afternoon gentlemen, let’s go for a blues on this mudball!

Regulars at the Harp Surgery will know how much we admire the harmonica style of Adam ‘Tidy’ Burney and The Brothers of Mothershovel. Newcomers fear not, you can catch up by reading our review from 2017 of their wonderful album Umcha, Umcha. In the meantime, hang onto your hats, he’s back!

Last month, amidst a nerve-wracking summer of Euro soccer, Otis the postman delivered an eagerly anticipated copy of Tidy’s new solo album, Mudball Musings. We duly closed the Surgery early, put the kettle on and gathered round the radiogram. The result? A feast for the ears, with an array of guest artists and supporting musicians, and of course harp playing of the highest magnitude. (more…)

Building Confidence in holes 7-10

Harmonica UK – Lockdown Sessions

Thank you for joining my HarmonicaUK Zoom session on accessing and playing the top end of the diatonic harmonica. Thanks also to Jason Ricci for joining us live from New Orleans with some wonderful insights into playing solo harmonica.

If you’d like to learn more about specific aspects of diatonic playing, feel free to contact me for 1:1 tuition. Alternatively come and sit in on our free weekly Workshop Group where we can share your questions and make you feel welcome.

You can review this tutorial on their website here. You can also sign up to receive their monthly magazine and news of harmonica festivals, harmonica music learning in all its forms, and other great events.

Harmonica Lessons Available Online

The Good Doctor’s making house calls

We hope you’re staying safe and keeping well. While we’re isolating and enjoying some extra down time , what better opportunity could there be to grow your harp skills and elevate your playing. Don’t put it off any longer!

While regular live lessons may be on hold, this isn’t stopping us from enjoying harmonica learning at the Harp Surgery. Indeed, the Good Doctor is ready and waiting to coach you over internet right now! To book your online session, go to our Contact page and get in touch. We look forward to hearing from you very soon. 

Free Online Harmonica Festival 5-7.Feb 2021

Harpin’ By The Sea is back and online for 2021 and it’s free! From the 5-7.Feb 2021 join us for a weekend of harmonica happiness.

•  Live on Zoom and simultaneous YouTube stream
•  Fifteen international guest artists
•  Performances, tuition and harp chat
•  Interviews and breakouts with our event sponsors
•  Hohner Harmonica’s virtual factory tour
•  Limited edition gold plated Hohner Marine Band to win
•  Harmonica product giveaways
•  Archive video footage
•  John Cook’s harp tech drop-in studio

And all from the comfort of your sofa. We’re locked down, loaded and ready to rumble. Check out our website for the latest news of our line up, sponsors and festival schedule. Please support our artists by donating to paypal.me/harpinbythe sea

Tune in. Dig it. Tell all your friends.

Beginners Learning Path

When students come to the Harp Surgery for tuition, we begin by setting clear goals. This process starts with a short diagnostic session to identify gaps in a student’s technical skills. It also involves a short playback, so that we can see and hear a student’s level of competency. This is done not as a cold critique of the student’s ability, but to establish exactly where the Harp Surgery can provide practical support and encouragement. In other words, we’re on your side every step of the way.

We can then consider particular pieces of music, styles and players we’d like to investigate. This gives us a healthy balance between exercises, theory and technique learning (foundation stuff), and repertoire (song learning and fun stuff).

For complete Beginners of course, we’re working from a blank sheet and we can build solid foundations from the outset. For others, we will need to address any bad habits, while exploring fresh territory to complete our Beginners Learning Path.

Once we have captured our regular bending skills, thereby adding twelve new notes to our palette, the Beginners Learning Path is complete, and we can embark on our Intermediate Learning Path.

John Cook Harmonica Repair Workshop

Together we stand, divided we fall
In 2016, John Cook attended Hohner’s prestigious harmonica accreditation training programme at their headquarters in Trossingen, Germany. He was subsequently appointed a member of Hohner’s worldwide accredited Service team.

Today, John manages and operates an excellent harmonica repair and modification service from his base at East Coast Music in Hornchurch, UK.

In a very short space of time, John has become the go-to repair and modification engineer for Hohner harmonica owners, not only in the UK, but internationally.

Come on now people, let’s get on the ball
Periodically, John runs small harmonica repair workshops, and this autumn we joined him alongside a small band of harmonica repair enthusiasts. Covering a wide range of essential skills, from blueprinting new harmonicas out of the box, to standard maintenance procedures and fixes, the day was fully hands-on and well worth the effort.

We dismantled harps, we cleaned harps, we tuned reeds, we gapped reeds, we replaced reeds, we embossed slots, we chatted and we laughed. We even took our first steps in harmonica customisation; by which time we’d gathered a wealth of top tips and handy tools. Best of all, we came away knowing how to approach and solve a range of problems that lurk beneath the average diatonic cover plate.

Come on, come on, let’s work together
If you need help restoring or repairing a broken harmonica, you’ll find a link to John’s website below. But perhaps you’d like to meet John yourself and learn some helpful skills like sanding your harmonica comb and draw reed plate for greater air tightness, correctly gapping your reeds for improved response and, of course, tuning your own instrument confidently.

In which case, get along to the UK’s annual National Harmonica Festival, Harpin’ By The Sea harmonica festival, or to the Blues Weekend in Bucks, where John leads some wonderful drop-in sessions for diatonic and for chromatic players.

Alternatively, check out John’s website and book yourself in for a super Sunday of indulgence in the dark art of harmonica repairs and maintenance. You know it makes sense.

John Cook Harmonicas