Harp Surgery – Page 10 – the harmonica player's web site

Yolonda’s Genius by Carol Fenner

October 16, 2013 The Good Doctor

Yolonda’s Genius – Carol Fenner

The Doc discovered this excellent read while researching harmonica stories for the 12-15 year olds he teaches around the County. It would make an excellent Christmas or birthday present for girls or boys in this age bracket. It’s also a fun read for adults!

Yolonda is smart, tough, and big for her age. Back in Chicago where she used to live, everyone knew better than to mess with her or her little brother, Andrew. Andrew doesn’t talk very much and he can’t read, but he can create unbelievable music on the old harmonica his father left him.

Carol Fenner paints a great picture of US School life, building her story on modern Afro-American culture, including Double-Dutch rope jumping and the annual Chicago Blues Festival. There’s even a cameo featuring BB King. Fenner also addresses issues of family life, bullying, drugs and special needs learning, with the magic of harmonica music providing the all-important central thread. True genius rearranges old material in a way never seen before. Find out where Andrew’s genius takes him.

Yolonda’s Genius is published by Simon & Schuster (ISBN 0-689-82172-7). Buy at Amazon UK or Amazon US

Au Clair De La Douzième Position (Shedding Light On 12th Position)

April 8, 2013 The Good Doctor

Au Clair de la Lune, mon ami Pierrot

Today Otis the Harp Surgery’s postman dropped off a delivery from those lovely people at Amazon; Pat Missin’s handsome new manual, The Ultimate Miniature Harmonica Tunebook. And as he trudged round the duck pond, amidst the late snow and expectant quacks, Otis was whistling a familiar French folk tune.

‘Pour l’amour de Dieu’, the Good Doctor sympathised as he gingerly opened the Surgery’s front door, ‘come inside and warm yourself before you freeze your assets’. ‘Don’t mind if I do’, replied Otis pausing from his musical méandre, ‘Get that kettle on. Mine’s a Julie Andrews’. Read more

Doublecrossed and Blue

February 4, 2013 The Good Doctor

I’m gonna pack my bag

A third annual day of Harpin’ By The Sea completed, and another bucket load of memories collected!

This year we had the very great honour of welcoming Steve Baker to his UK homeland, fresh from his tour of India. During a full programme of harmonica workshops, Steve offered his wisdom and expertise to a select group of advanced harmonica players, many of whom had travelled across the country to meet him. Meanwhile over forty newcomers attended the workshop for complete beginners with the Harp Surgery’s Good Doctor. Read more

The Moothie

November 30, 2012 The Good Doctor

Happy St.Andrew’s Day

Cantie Saunt Dandie’s Day tae ye! Or if you’re a speaker of Scottish Gaelic, Beannachtai ne Feile Aindréas!

We had considered running an article on how to play Amazing Grace, but discovered, to our surprise, this may not be the traditional Caledonian Air we’d imagined. We also thought about the Sky Boat Song, or Scotland The Brave, but harp tab for this is freely available on the interweb. So instead, we decided to post an introduction to the tradition of the Scottish mouth organ – or Moothie. And, as a small bonus, we’ve thrown in a neat little bagpipe trick we picked up from Joe Filisko..

Blues Harp Radio – Radio Caprice

November 25, 2012 The Good Doctor

Cruisin’ and playin’ the radio

The Good Doctor had closed the Harp Surgery for the day and was just settling down to a medicinal Jim Beam when the doorbell rang. It was Otis the postman with some extra news for blues harp fans.

Otis had been messing around with the Internet Radio App on his new bluespad and stumbled across Radio Caprice’s twenty-four hour Harmonica Blues channel. Perfect for after-hours listening at the Surgery.

With no particular place to go

Radio Caprice is a free Internet Radio Station broadcast from Russia and can be located through most Internet Radio search engines. Listeners are treated to the classic tones of masters such as James Cotton, Big Walter, Rod Piazza, George Butler and Junior Wells, as well as one or two very pleasant contemporary surprises. Ron Sorin, The Pera Joe Blues Band and Sven Zetterburg are just a couple of examples the Doc and Otis grooved on down to.

Switching to cold shots of Stolyichnaya in celebration, Otis and the Doc stoked the winter coal fire and kicked back for an evening of top class entertainment. David Rotundo’s That Girl had them shimmying like a pair of old hippies on flower power. Nostrovia Radio Caprice!

Jesu Joy Of Man’s Desiring – J.S. Bach [..with tab]

October 29, 2012 The Good Doctor

Hark, what peaceful music rings!

[To the Memory of the great Herbert Harris, Choirmaster and Organist of All Saints Church, Harpenden, UK].

Welcome to the Harp Surgery, where one minute we’re honking the blues and next minute we’re power harping on a tangent. Time now to turn the clocks back three hundred years to the ornamentation and etiquette of the Baroque.

Whether or not you’ve studied classical music, it’s a certainty you’ve encountered its superstars. In absentia, these dudes have colonised elevators, call centres hold messages and even TV theme tunes (check out The Antiques Roadshow ) for decades. Our house favourite is Johann Sebastian Bach. Jesu Joy Of Man’s Desiring, composed in the early 1700’s, was regular fayre for the Good Doctor as a junior. And somehow, Bach was hip. Read more