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All comers welcome!

Our Open Harmonica Club is available to children from any Infant, Junior or Primary school in Brighton, Hove and the surrounding area. We meet on Wednesdays at Aldrington Primary School in Hove, with separate 45 minute sessions for KS1 and KS2 children.

Aldrington CE Primary School, Eridge Road, Hove, BN3 7QD.

KS1 4.15pm-5.00pm
KS2 5.15pm-6.00pm

Club dates are published in our My School menu here.

What do children do at the Club?
Each session begins with a fun musical ice-breaker. We then warm up with scales, arpeggios and standard exercises. Next we move into repertoire, learning pieces from our syllabus, and build technical skills. We also have a termly theme; some past examples include Film Themes and texture, Songs of The Sea and dynamics, and The Beatles and Structure. You can find our termly Teaching Plan in our My School menu.

Performances
Finally we have one eye firmly set on performance opportunities. This may be at The Brunswick’s annual Harpin’ By The Sea Harmonica Festival (Feb), or at one of our public ‘blow outs’ – The Alex Children’s Hospital (Dec), The Brighton Festival (May) and Paddle Round The Pier Beach Festival (Jul).

Free taster and ongoing sessions
Your first session is entirely free and includes a 4 hole starter harmonica. This way we know everyone is happy and everything works before you continue.

Ongoing sessions
The cost for each ongoing session is £7.99 and payment is made half termly in advance by BACS, or through our website Store using a credit or debit card. Subscribers will also be given free access to the home learning and support pages here on our website.

Registration
Places are allocated on a first-come first-served basis. To register for your Free Taster Session, simply click the Gold Harmonica and complete our online form. If our club is full when you register, we will advise you of available alternatives, or keep your child’s name on our waiting list.

Harmonica Kit
Once they’ve signed up in full, every child (or harmonaut as we call our players) is required to bring a music folder and diary to their club sessions. Parents are free to supply these themselves. They can also order them through our Store as single items or as part of our standard Music Pack.

KS1 children can continue using their 4 hole starter harmonica until they are ready to graduate to a 10 hole instrument, however KS2 harmonauts are expected to upgrade to a 10 hole harmonica by the end of their first half term. Again parents are free to supply this themselves, place their order through our Store. A 10 hole Suzuki Airwave harmonica is recommended and also comes as part of our Music Pack. Harmonauts should bring their full harmonica kit to every session.

What if I forget my harmonica?
We have spares that can be purchased on the day, however for reasons of hygiene, we hope you will understand that we cannot lend or share harmonicas.

Is there Parking on site?
There is a small amount of free parking adjacent to the School.

Is there somewhere parents can wait?
While there isn’t really a waiting room for parents on site, there are local visitor-friendly facilities on hand. Waitrose is just around the corner with its own coffee shop and café. In warmer weather, Hove Park is nearby for strolling, picnics and dog walking, and has it’s own café.

Goldstone Retail park is also close by with shops and food outlets, and there are more shops, food outlets and a petrol station at the western end of Nevill Avenue, towards Hangleton. In warmer weather the Nevill Recreation ground, which is right next to the school, is another option for dog walkers and picnickers (and there’s cricket to watch in the summer months).

Terms & Conditions
Our standard terms and conditions apply and you can check these here.

How to pay your subscription

Depending on your budget, you can pay termly or half termly. All subscriptions are payable in advance. These are tuition payments, which are separate to music equipment or instrument costs. First timers are awarded a free taster session, the value of which is deducted from their first payment.

Termly payments must be made by 1st September, 2nd January or 1st April as appropriate, ahead of the following term. Half Termly payments must be made by 1st September, 15th October, 2nd January, 15th February, 1st April or 15th May as appropriate, ahead of the following half term.

When you register with Harp Academy using the Golden Harmonica, our confirmation email will reconfirm the termly and half termly subscription amounts, any deduction for your first free taster session, and any additional costs for music equipment. Subject to places being available, newcomers may join during the term. The appropriate top up payment will be specified in our confirmation email along with your start date when you register. This amount can be selected from the corresponding top-up menu below.

When making a payment on this page, there is no need to log in (you don’t need to set up an account or password). Simply add your subscription to the cart, then check out. Please include your child’s name in the PayPal delivery address for reference. 

HALF TERMLY SUBSCRIPTIONS

Half Termly payment £40.00 (5 lessons, 30 mins each) 

TERMLY SUBSCRIPTIONS

Termly payment £75.00 (10 lessons, 30 mins each) 

PRIVATE TUITION

Bank Transfers

If you prefer, you can pay by online banking using our account details:

Account Number: 27231208
Sort Code: 60 30 09 Reference: Your child’s name.

If you experience any difficulty using this page, during office hours we can also action your card payment over the phone on 07525 256954.

Recommend a friend and receive 2 lessons free!

Children enjoy sharing activities with their best friends; this includes making music on the harmonica. If you have a friend who may be interested in joining Harp Academy, ask them to contact us mentioning your name and our promotional codeword harmonaut. They can do this by clicking the Golden Harmonica at the side of this screen.

Your friend can then try a taster session for free, which includes a starter harmonica in their favourite colour. Alternatively they can sign up straight away and we won’t charge for the first lesson.

If your friend enjoys their taster and joins Harp Academy for a term or more (1 taster session and 9 further lessons), we will credit you two free lessons as a thank you. And you can recommend as many friends as you like.

St Nicolas CE Primary School, Portslade
My daughter loves her classes with you. She loves how fun you make them. She does a little practice at home and sometimes teaches me how to play some of the songs.

St Nicolas & St Mary Primary School, Shoreham
Thank you for all you are doing – kids love your group and I know some do really well. I think you put that love of music in their hearts!

Elm Grove Primary School, Brighton 
My son is so excited about his lessons. He has already given two ‘concerts’ to cousins over the phone this week.

St Nicolas & St Mary Primary School, Shoreham
You must be great as kids seem to go crazy over this class. I feel like signing up myself. My daughter is very excited about her taster sessions and would love to continue. Fabulous – well done! Best wishes.

St Nicolas & St Mary Primary School, Shoreham
I don’t know what you do at this club, but Amelie is THE most enthusiastic about it. In fact she’s disappointed it’s half term next week and there isn’t harmonica club. So thank you for your patience in helping me sort everything.

Elm Grove Primary School, Brighton 
My son is not very confident, doesn’t like joining in group activities and is not massively musically gifted, and yet he really enjoys harmonica club and I have been so impressed with the tunes he has played for us. Thanks so much.

Steyning CE Primary School
My daughter loves her lessons and it’s such a joy to hear her wonderful playing. The harmonicas were the best part of the summer concert!

Crawley Down Village Primary School
I just wanted to let you know that we attended the school’s Easter performance at Church today. Megan, Bethany and Lilly did a fantastic job with their harmonica parts. I filmed it all to show them afterwards. It was brilliant! Thanks and have a lovely Easter.

Steyning CE Primary School
Thank you! My daughter tried your taster session this week and absolutely LOVED it. She is made up with the harmonica and has been playing it non-stop ever since. She had such a great time, so thank you for introducing her to learning music in such an excellent way!!!

Aldrington CE Primary School, Hove
After a year of harmonica, Edith has decided that she’d like to try another club. She has really enjoyed Harp Academy. She especially loved the Paddle Round the Pier festival and regularly watches the videos of the performances. She may well return in the future. Your communications and website are excellent. Thank you, it’s a really well run club.

Paddle Round The Pier Festival: Kids’ Stage
“I just wanted to thank you for organising the Paddle Round The Pier event; Edith loved taking part in the harmonica performance.We stayed next to the children’s stage for the rest of the day and both Edith and her sister Nell enjoyed watching, or taking part in, all of the subsequent performances on stage! It was our first time at the festival (despite living in Brighton & Hove for the last fifteen years). We’ll be going every year now!”

Great day on Saturday. And I thought Isla was too shy to do a solo. She loved it!  Isla and, following Saturday, her little sister, Esmeralda, would both like to do Harp Academy in September.

Arunside Primary School, Horsham
Just wanted to tell you that Will came into Arunside last week and two children performed to the school. You could have heard a pin drop – the performance was stunning! It brought tears to my eyes. You are all doing a great job. Thank you.

St Nic and St Mary’s, Shoreham
Just to say, Cooper put on a number of family performances over the Christmas period, with Little Donkey – it lifted his confidence and our relatives were delighted!

St John’s RC Primary School, Horsham
Thank you, you run a very professional, child friendly group.

Balfour School
My son enjoyed his taster session and would really like to carry on with the Harmonica. As a keen musician, I would like to add how pleased I am that he has taken an interest in a musical instrument; I love the way your songs and scales are tabbed! It’s so simple for kids to interpret, they get results fast which in turn gives them such a sense of achievement and encourages them to continue. Hats off to you!

Crawley Down Village Primary School
My daughter had a terrible night with a cold and she only went to school due her harmonica lesson today! She had her first session with Will last week and she is really enjoying her introduction to using a harmonica. We have practised her homework for this week, which was Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and logged onto the website to listen to the C Scale notes. I have been practicing too; what an enjoyable hobby this is!

After spending all day working on a computer and talking to people, it has been a most relaxing experience – so much so, I’m going to get a harmonica myself. I would encourage people of all ages to give this hobby a try. It’s most enjoyable to hear a tune that you can smile about. I’m trying When The Saints Go Marching In!  Richard was most helpful in discussing the various payment option and detail of my daughter’s taster session. He’s a most accommodating person who certainly has the people skills to manage anyone’s expectations. A superb start to a fascinating musical instrument.

Brackenbury Primary School, Portslade
I must say that our son (attending lessons at Portslade Infants School) has really enjoyed learning the harmonica. This is one area of his whole education which he takes great pleasure in learning and seems to be doing really well. It has been very good for his self-confidence too, which we’re delighted about.

Hertford Infants School, Brighton
Thanks for all you have done for our son, who is visually impaired, over the past three years – your gift of music helped him come out of himself and realise that he can create part of his own world through sound! He has thoroughly enjoyed his sessions at Hertford Infants with you.

St Nicolas & St Mary’s CE Primary School, Shoreham
Sammi has really enjoyed playing her harmonica. It made myself, my hubby and also my Dad (Sammi’s Grandpa) very proud when she played Twinkle Twinkle and Little Donkey to us!  Thank you.

All Saints Primary School, Horsham
Many thanks to Will for his great tuition again this year. Ned still loves his lessons and will be continuing in the Autumn.

Saltdean Primary School, Brighton
Aoife is really looking forward to continuing harmonica next term. Please could you also send us information about the Harmonica Festival in Bristol? Thank you.

Brackenbury Primary School, Portslade
I just wanted to say thank you for the amazing work Will has done with Aliyah this term – she absolutely loves playing her harmonica.

Saltdean Primary School, Brighton
T’biah loves her lessons so please hold her place open.

All Saints CE Primary, Horsham
It’s been a great experience (4 years) and I just wanted to thank you for teaching Dylan some great tunes and encouraging him so well.

Lindfield Primary School
Our daughter has enjoyed learning harmonica and is now wanting to start the Violin. Although she will be stopping Harp Academy at the end of this term, the harmonica has given her a great grounding in music. She has really enjoyed the lessons and has done some demonstrating at home too! Thank you to Will and Richard for all her tuition.

The performance at Lindfield School this morning was brilliant!  Kain is really enjoying learning the harmonica.

Arunside Primary School, Horsham
Thank you very much for the brilliant organisation and care for our children.