Harp Academy

Harmonica tuition in schools in the South East of England

Author: Richard

Lesson Outtakes 

Dynamically Speaking

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Laughing ChildrenHarmonica Lesson Outtakes
Today in class we were working on Dynamics; how to play loudly and softly, how to change from one to the other, and the standard notation to support everything. Our first building blocks were p for piano (softly), and f for forte (loudly).  ‘So what does mf mean?’ asked the teacher, expecting one of the group to remember mezzo forte, for moderately loud. Simon’s hand went up as he answered ‘Mexican fort‘.

The teacher moved on to very loud, ff, and very quiet, pp. ‘Who can remember the term for very quiet?’ asked the teacher. ‘I know, I know‘, said Charlotte, ‘it’s pea in a cinema‘. When the chuckles died down, the teacher corrected Charlotte. ‘That’ll be pianissimo Charlotte. And who can remember the full name for the keyboard instrument we talked about?’. ‘That’s easy,’ said Jake, ‘it’s piano fortnight.’

Key Harmonica Skills 

Improvisation

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Boy with ballGive me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown

Improvisation is something that can be quite daunting for newcomers. Given a blank page, where does anyone start? What should they do? It can be a huge challenge and, at the outset, we need guidance.

Of course some launch into the process fearlessly, but either way, improvisation is an important foundation for confidence building, creativity and freedom of expression. In short, we’re turning a negative ‘nothing’, into a very positive ‘anything’, and learning that music is both rewarding and inclusive.

Listen to

Two of our team were teaching a KS2 group recently. It was the children’s first lesson of the term. The first HA teacher started a simple chug, or riff, on his 10 hole harmonica, while the second HA teacher punctuated this pattern with two simple chords, or vamps..

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Announcements 

Harmonica KS1 to KS3 – a Case Study

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Reasons to be cheerful

This is Ewan McCauley from Aldrington School. Aldrington was the first school Harp Academy ever worked with and Ewan was one of our first students. Here he is to tell you about his journey.

It doesn’t matter whether you are in KS1, KS2 or KS3, if you would like to try the harmonica for yourself we can help. Just click the Gold Harmonica at the side of the screen and let us know. Alternatively, send us a message through the Contact page in our main menu and we’ll be more than happy to lend hand.

Announcements 

Congratulations!

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We are the Champions my friends

Well done to Tom Coleman and Callum Shuttlewood, who won their respective categories at this year’s National Harmonica Festival Music Competition in Bristol.

Tom performed Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) by Solomon Linda in the melodic section. Meanwhile, Callum finished the day’s schedule with Avicii’s Wake Me Up. They both showed immense strength of character by delivering two highly entertaining and very musical solo performances.

A big well done also goes to the family members who turned out to support our intrepid harmonauts.

Announcements 

Subscriber Log-In

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Backstage PassAccess all areas

For all paid-up Harp Academy harmonauts and parents, we provide a subscriber log-in for access to our protected pages. These support our classroom learning and provide an effective resource for home study and practise. The log-in code is provided in our Music Packs and white Music Diaries.

If you lose the code, or have only just joined Harp Academy, send us an email with your child’s name and school, and we will forward it to you. To access our protected pages, just click Subscriber Log In in the corner of the screen, enter the code words in the pop-up, and enjoy your VIP backstage pass!

SPECIAL NOTE: NO NEED TO USE OUR SUBSCRIBER LOG IN FOR ON LINE LESSON PAYMENTS OR SHOPPING