[Harp-L] New Harmonica Teaching site from Tony Eyers

[Tony Eyers <tony@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This week I've released a harmonica teaching web site. It's at 
http://www.harmonicauniversity.com

For those interested, here is some background. I've developed the site 
over the last two years, and have been releasing it gradually in China, 
where it has proved very popular. I'm an educator by profession, and 
have a PhD in an Internet related discipline. I also play baroque 
recorder in a professional ensemble, and have had some formal classical 
training on recorder. I've applied these various skills to the project.

I started by looking at some of the better known harmonica instruction 
material now available. I wish that it had been around when I started. 
However, some issues appeared repeatedly, which I thought could be 
addressed by an Internet based harmonica course, designed from scratch. 
In particular:

- Most instruction books have a CD. A good thing, but the CDs often have 
50 tracks or more. Finding track 46, or whichever one you may be on is 
tedious. Some CDs have fewer tracks, which are longer. These are easier 
to manage, but then playing a particular part of a track over and over 
usually means re-starting the track each time. Also, the CD format 
limits the amount of audio in the course.

These problems are addressed with this web based course. My course has 
over 1000 audio tracks - out of the question for a CD based course, no 
problem for a web site. Each track has its own audio player, which sits 
next to the relevant text or tab. Track portions can be accessed by 
dragging a slider.

- Some course have jam tracks, usually separate to the lessons. These 
are valuable; my course provides them as well. However, I feel that 
students also need a band to back the exercises in each lesson, starting 
with the first. This band should cover a wide range of styles. Band in a 
Box fits the bill for this. I used Band in a Box widely in the course, 
the tracks are in nearly every lesson and underpin most exercises.

- Finding instruction books appropriate to the level of specific 
indiviuduals can be hard. Accordingly, I designed the course like a 
University, with Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior Years. Freshman 
Year is for beginners, Senior Year is quite advanced, Sophomore and 
Junior Year fit in between, with 81 lessons altogether. This makes it 
easier for players to find the right starting point. More experienced 
players can pick and choose individual lessons. There is a graduation 
exam aimed at those who have completed the course. This exam is challenging.

- Most harmonica instruction is focused on blues only. I feel that more 
should be offered, particularly for younger players, and hence designed 
the course with two equal strands, one for blues, the other for 
traditional tunes. I also included a small Hip Hop section.

- To date, very few courses provide the technical background and 
exercises needed for traditional tunes (e.g. bluegrass and Irish fiddle 
tunes). My course addresses this, and covers first, second and third 
postion tunes in considerable detail.

- Some courses require music reading skills to be developed very early 
on. Given few harmonica players read music while playing, I felt that it 
was better to avoid theory at the start. Instead, the course uses a 
simple tab, followed immediately with the associated audio. The approach 
is "hear it then play", the way most of us do it anyway.

- Classical players develop speed by working with metronomes, at 
steadily increasing rates. I developed my harmonica technique using this 
approach, drawing upon my background in classical music. The course 
provides the same systematic approach to building speed and accuracy, 
based on gradually increasing the speed of exercise backings. A software 
metronome is also supplied.

This project has occupied much of my time and thoughts over the last two 
year. Hopefully the result is a course which is useful.

Please let me me know if it is.

Tony Eyers
Australia
www.harmonicauniversity.com