[Harp-L] Harmonica gathering in Israel! (slightly long)

[drori hammer <drori_hammer@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi!
  I just thought it would be nice to share with you a small report about the first ever harmonica seminar here in Israel. I rarely get to meet harmonica players in this part of the world so when I was invited to give a Blues harmonica workshop at a "harmonica gathering" I accepted eagerly.
  It took place on a thursday morning in Tiv`on, a small  country town about an hour`s drive from my hometown of Tel Aviv. There were approximately 50-70 people in attendance, ranging from young teenagers to senior citizens. I gave a workshop giving an introductory "taste" of Blues - harp basics: cross-harp, chords, bends, a bit of 1st and 3rd positions, as well as playing. The organizer of the event, Ami Luz, had preceded me with a general intro to blues: 12-bar stucture, I-IV-V major-7 chords etc.
  For many of the people there it was their first exposure to this style of playing.
  I was followed by Dror Adler (of the world famous Adler trio, also formerly my chromatic teacher) who showed videotapes of great harmonica masters such as Toots Theilmans  , Pete Pederson, Howard Levy and the Adler trio themselves, discussing 
  various styles of play.
  The Afternoon session began with an "open stage" featuring various amature players, students - and some very talented senior citizens playing classical music, as well as Israel folk tunes on chromatic harp.
  This was followed by the featured performers (including myself - I gave a half-hour set of acoustic blues accompanied by a guitarist), a chromatic trio from the north of Israel, and a young teenage girl who played incredible stuff on the chromatic (Bach, Stevie Wonder) -I was told that she placed very high at the world championships in Germany last year.
  Although Israel is a small country, not knowen especially as a harmonica hotbed, I thought it was great that we could have a harmonica event, a small one for sure, but I think it inspired a lot of local kids to start  - or continue - playing harp. I hope this event will be the first of many, and start a "harp scene " here. My Hat`s off to Ami Luz for arranging this event.
  If you can read hebrew, you should check out his website "harmonica Breeze" - to my knowledge, the first comprehensive website in the hebrew language, teaching harmonica. here`s the link
   
  http://harmonica.musicalbreeze.com
   
  Dov Hammer
  www.dovhammer.com 

 		
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