MetaFilter posts tagged with harmonica

Heaven doesn't need a harmonica player yet.

445supermag — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:34:48 -0800

After his ninth heart surgery, Mackie's doctors had him on 15 different medicines. But the side effects made life miserable. So one day he quit taking all 15 and decided to spend his final days doing something he always wanted to do. He used the money he would have spent on the prescriptions to give away 300 harmonicas, with lessons included. "I really thought it was the last thing I could ever do," he says. "To keep the kids interested in music as they get older, Mackie now spends the bulk of his Social Security check making them beginner string instruments. He also buys store-made instruments for kids that show a special interest. He provides free lessons to everyone by getting the older kids to teach the younger kids." Some picks on flickr, including some showing his homemade "strum sticks". Andy Mackie Music Foundation A couple videos:interview, The Rose of Allandale sung by Andy Mackie. Strumsticks.

Mountain Bluegrass

netbros — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 08:51:57 -0800

Music in the Digital Library of Appalachia provides an unprecedented resource for study of repertoire, technique, lore, and the musical interchanges among the region's traditional musicians. Once you know what you like, it's easy to find the music live with Blue Ridge Music Trails. Meet musicians who have grown up with that music, visit settings in which Blue Ridge folk music thrives, see traditional dancing, and in many cases, take part in the festivities. The Crooked Road, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, winds through the mountains of Southwest Virginia. Along the trail, the Bluegrass, Old Time, and Traditional Country music is as beautiful and rugged as the landscape itself. [previous 1, 2]

The Hoodoo Man

Joe Beese — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 10:55:59 -0800

"He was one bad dude, strutting across the stage like a harp-toting gangster, mesmerizing the crowd with his tough-guy antics and rib-sticking Chicago blues attack." - All Music Guide. He was also a sharp-dressing mofo who, at the end of his storied life, was buried in "his creaseless sky-blue silk suit and matching homburg, a shiny trove of harmonicas laid out beside him, a pint of gin nestled nearby to ease his journey home". In the opinion of many, he was the greatest blues harmonica player of all time. Junior Wells' universally acknowledged masterpiece is his 1965 debut, Hoodoo Man Blues. More excellent early work is found on Blues Hit Big Town. Favorites among his later work include Drinkin' TNT 'n' Smokin' Dynamite - a live performance with Buddy Guy at the 1974 Montreux Blues Festival - and Come On In This House. A January 1978 performance at The Bottom Line in New York City can be found here. (site is twitchy - be patient) And for specialists: his hippie cash-in "The Hippies Are Trying" is here.

A hellish cacophony, as if a herd of dinosaurs were roaring between bursts of artillery fire

jessamyn — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:55:05 -0800

Pyrophones are organs where the notes are sounded via explosions or other forms of combustion. Often beautiful just to look at, they also make otherwordly noises (open up all these links at once for a real wake-up). Unlike other fire-based instruments, they can even play recognizeable melodies. Here's how to make one. They've become quite popular at events (7 MB video, more videos) like Burning Man, but they've been around since the 17-1800's. If you're new to experimental instruments, a read/listen through Gravikords, Whirlies and Pyrophones should be your next stop. Related: chemical harmonica, burning harmonica, singing tubes. [via & prev.]

That ain't doubling on flute. This is doubling on flute.

No-sword — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:58:31 -0800

Two flutes at once. Two guitars at once. (Honorable mentions.) Two recorders at once, 100% nose-powered. Two trumpets at once (breakdown at three).Two harps at once. Two saxophones at once. (Bonus: Clarinet/sax unos.) (Double-link YouTube filter in honor of Rahsaan Roland Kirk's birthday this week.)

A tale of two Sonny Boys

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:39:45 -0800

It's just gotta make you feel so good to hear (and see) Sonny Boy Williamson sing and blow the harp. Keep in mind, of course, this is Sonny Boy Williamson II we're talking about here. Yes, there were two harp-blowing Sonny Boys, and here's a documentary on the legendary Sonny Boy the first: Part 1 and Part 2. You'll note that on "What's Gonna Happen To You" (the "harp" link) the bass player really drops the ball and flubs the entrance that Sonny Boy had set and cued for him, which is most unfortunate. All the other clips, however, feature Sonny Boy in the able company of blues musicians of his own caliber. And that sometimes includes bassist and "poet laureate" of the blues, Willie Dixon. Sonny Boy also played with the great Muddy Waters. Here's another performance of Bye Bye Bird. BTW, that same Sonny Boy (the first) documentary can also be seen in its entirety, uninterrupted, here.

High Sheriff on my heels. I better get on my way, yes!

1f2frfbf — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:37:49 -0800

The full length of Tom Davenport's "Born for Hard Luck" featuring Peg Leg Sam, the last of the great medicine show singers/dancers/musicians. Too busy to watch? Read the transcript with footnotes. Other films in Davenport's American Traditional Culture series available here. Tip o' the hat to hortense for the pointer. Previous Folkstreams post.

Little Walter makes it to heaven

fellene — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:01:49 -0800

Little Walter ushered into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame As I heard about the entry of Madonna, Leonard Cohen, the Ventures and the Dave Clark 5 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yesterday, one name way at the end of the list brought music to my ears. Little Walter Jacobs was only the best blues harmonica player ever to come out of Chicago from the Delta. Ever. Period. He has influenced everyone you every thought was a good blues harmonica player. After learning to play growing up in Lousiana, he made his way as an itinerant musician throughout the south, finally ending up in Chicago. He developed an innovative technique of cupping a microphone while playing harmonica which allowed him to compete with the newly-amplified blues emerging in south Chicago after the war. As a regular Muddy Waters sideman, he was blowing his heart out at the center of the blues universe. Then he died in a bar fight in 1968.

Personal favorite of his include My Babe, Flying Saucer, Boom Boom, Dead Presidents. Here are a couple clips on You Tube performing with Hound Dog Taylor and Koko Taylor.

KudzuRunner's Blow Out Harmonica Lessons Sale - 'Folks, He's Giving Away The Store!!!'

y2karl — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:29:32 -0800

Well respected as a player, instructor and scholar, Adam Gussow teaches blues harmonica online at Modern Blues Harmonica. For a fee.
On YouTube, as KudzuRunner, he also gives lessons. For free. He's put up around 145 videos now--145 videos with like about a million hits in return...
via Tom Muck's Blog

Borrah Minnevitch and His Harmonica School

y2karl — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:46:49 -0800

Borrah Minevitch & His Harmonica Rascals - Harmonica Specialty and Rascal Bill McBride's vocal turn on Always In My Heart are excerpts from Borrah Minevitch & His Harmonica School--a wmv video file of a Vitaphone Short which with no surprise we find at Vitaphone Shorts, a subsection of Dr. Macro's High Quality Movie Scans--which was first brought to our attention by the noble crunchland, albeit at another and now defunct URL, let it be noted. . Whether the impish and dapper Borrah Minevitch was the originator of the Harmonica Madness of the swing era or merely the most successful, many of the following dyi harmonica orchestras cited him as inspiration The equally if not more impish and extremely diminutive Rascal in Harmonica Specialty is one Sammy Ross, who had quite a run of his own. He was the replacement for the runaway Rascal Johnny Puleo, who eventually inherited the franchise. And indeed Leo Diamond and Larry Murad of the Harmonicats were Minevitch alumni. It is interesting as well to note that the Harmonica Madness and Doo Wop were both dyi phenomena that had their origins in the 1942-1944 Musicians Strike known as the Petrillo Ban, which was also the nail in the coffin of the Big Band era. Harmonicas were not considered musical instruments while harmony groups could record accapella with vocal lines reproducing big band horn lines while the big bands sat by. Between the ban and the introduction of Juke Boxes, touring big bands were doomed. Oh, and PS. Always In My Heart was the theme song of the movie of the same name, a movie in which Borrah Minnevitch and his Harmonica Rascals provided comic relief and the song was nominated for an Oscar in 1942. White Christmas won. And Dean Martin covered both in his time.

Lots of free acoustic music lessons!

kosem — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:51:59 -0800

MusicMoose wants "to provide the world with free, useful music lessons, and a community based site to help back it all up." The site contains hundreds of free video music lessons (often containing notation and/or tablature) with a distinct focus on acoustic and bluegrass music, all taught by some pretty badass pickers (including the astonishingly good mandolin shredder Anthony Hannigan). There are also obligatory but very useful forums. Takeaway: the whole thing is free and you don't have to register to watch the lessons.

Ben's bowls

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 07:09:37 -0800

At one time or another you've probably rubbed your finger along the rim of a glass to produce a note. In 1761 Ben Franklin took the idea further with the invention of the glass (h)armonica. The instrument enjoyed some popularity, but is believed to have caused health problems due to lead content in the glass. Performers complained of loss of feeling in their hands, some even suffered nervous breakdowns. People became very frightened of the armonica, and by 1830 it was all but extinct. But there's been some renewal of interest: they're being play ed, and they're being made. You can play a surprisingly good-sounding virtual version. Or listen to a charming rendition of a seasonally appropriate tune. [more links inside] Oh, and: [previously]

y2karl — Sun, 24 Mar 2002 23:28:17 -0800

Mel Lyman 1938-1978. Mel Lyman was controversial. He was the brilliant folk musician who soothed the Dylan-ruffled crowd at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, the Fort Hill guru whose prose in the undergound newspaper Avatar shocked conservative Bostonians of the late 60s... Many years of collecting, and help from numerous people has resulted in the large collection of articles reproduced here. Some say Lyman was God... others that he was a devil... but most of these articles show him as a charismatic individual somewhere between those two extremes. An exhaustively authoritative page about a very interesting harmonica player who became God. And, man, does this bring back the 60s...(Details within)