[Harp-L] Fernando Bresslau at Hohner until July 31st. After that, MBA

["Fernando Bresslau" <fernando@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,
Since I will be studying again in September, the 31st of July will be my
last day at the Hohner Company.
In September I will be starting an MBA (in Business Administration) course
at the Mannheim Business School, a spin-off of the Mannheim University. This
school is considered by many the best Business School in Germany, and I am
glad to have been accepted there.
These business studies will be a great complement to my technical education,
and I am already looking forward to to the classes, new colleagues and new
experiences.

The first term, from September to mid December, will take place in Coventry,
England. After that I will be in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. And, finally, 6
months in Mannheim, starting in April 2008. I have been told that Mannheim
is quite a good place to make music, but am also hoping to be able to play a
bit in the UK and Canada.
The course is, therefore, very international and I will have colleagues from
all around the world: Belarus, Egypt, China, Colombia, India, and Germany,
just to name a few. It will surely be culturally very interesting.

My time at Hohner was surely really good. It was, in many aspects, a dream
job come true, where I could join my technical knowledge with my passion for
the harmonica. I was even accused to have been paid to do my hobby, and I
guess that's also right to some extent. I grew to really like and appreciate
my colleagues in Trossingen. Many of the workers at Hohner are really
special and good people very keen on producing the best harmonicas around.
This has made my work there even more enjoyable. I also enjoyed living in
Trossingen, a very nice place to live in, near the Alps (snowboarding!!),
simply charming and with mostly good weather.

Special thanks go out to Gerhard Müller, product manager for harmonicas,
melodicas and recorders, born in Trossingen and an excellent chromatic
harmonica player himself. It has been always very pleasant to work with him,
his good humor and support in different projects made all the difference.

I must also thank Steve Baker, who introduced me to the company and has
always been there for me, teaching me a lot. Not only about the harmonica,
but also about music and about being a musician. I am glad to be able to
call a legend of the harmonica my friend.

I worked as an assistant product manager for a little over two and a half
years and was able to learn and do a lot. It all started with the Harmonica
Masters' Workshops (HMW) 2004, then the Marine Band Deluxe and Frankfurt
Music Fair 2005, the festivals in Klingenthal, MusicFest Moscow, the
fantastic World Harmonica Festival 2005 e so many other events. Some of the
products I had the pleasure to work on their development were:

  - The aforementioned Marine Band Deluxe. It was almost finished when I
  got there, but it is nowadays my favorite harmonica
  - The Chromonica 270 Deluxe
  - The 21 Tremolo De Luxe
  - The beautiful Hohner Highlander Mouthorgan, developed in the
  extremely pleasant team work with Scottish player Donald Black
  - The new version of the Hohner Service Kit. I hope you enjoy the new
  case, the reedited instructions and the reduced price
  - And of course the present Anniversary harmonicas in Gold, Chrome or
  Standard

I also worked hard to improve the quality of our harmonicas even more.
Durability, response and specially tuning. I invested many hours
reprogramming the frequency tables for the different diatonic models and the
several keys. I am convinced that the quality of the harmonicas has improved
in the last 3 to 4 years. The whole action was already going when I got in,
but I am satisfied with the contribution I was able to give. I will continue
to stand behind Hohner products, because I am sure that there is a unique
team behind these products as well.

And now, how does this go on? I will continue to be in close touch with
Hohner. I will also continue to participate on the different discussion
lists, though I will probably not be so active, concentrating my energies
into my studies. I continue to be at disposal as usual, you all have my
e-mail address. I will gladly answer any questions you have. To get in touch
directly with Hohner, use the e-mail info@xxxxxxxxx, which is checked and
answered daily.

I am also in debt with the folks here on these lists. Much of what I have
learned I have learned here, and some of my best friends are crazy harmonica
players I met on the net. I won't name anyone because we don't need that. As
much cliché as it might sound, you know who you are, thank you very much.

I will be in London in mid September, will probably visit Donald in Glasgow
quickly and then arrive in Coventry in the end of the month. I plan to be in
NY and Nashville around Christmas, and then Canada. If you are in one of
these areas at those times, please get in touch. I will surely appreciate
getting to know some of you personally. I will try to attend to Bristol
2007, but I won't be able to go to SPAH this time or in 2008, unfortunately.


Well, that's it. Now wish me good luck. I will need it now, during my
preparations for the financing of the whole adventure, but also later on,
during exams and assignment.
I wish you all the best and will see you soon,

Fernando Bresslau, who wrote too much already.