Harp Academy

We’re all going on a summer holiday

We’ve enjoyed some great lessons this academic year, in the classroom and online! We’ve also seen some splendid school performances and entertained at The Alex Children’s Hospital and Harpin’ By The Sea winter harmonica festival.

Some of you have already packed up your bags and headed off on holiday. Others will be enjoying a well-earned staycation. Whatever your circumstances, you can take a harmonica anywhere! And that’s exactly what we’d like you to do.

Wherever you are this summer, ask your grown ups to take a photo of and your harmonica, email it to us by midnight on 31st August 2019 (with permission to publish the picture here on the Harp Academy website), and you could be the winner of a great prize.

First prize  – Hohner Special 20 harmonica & Harp Academy mug
Second prize  – Hohner Special 20 harmonica
Third Prize – Suzuki Airwave harmonica

We’re really looking forward to seeing all your entries – get snapping!

Enrolment plan Autumn 2020 
Welcome back! With COVID-19 safety still paramount, Harp Academy will return to Schools after October half term 2020. This is subject to review as the Autumn term develops, but we will continue to keep you informed here, on our members FaceBook page and by email.

Free weekly group tutorials this Autumn
We will not be producing pre-recorded YouTube lessons this term, instead Richard Taylor will be running free weekly tutorials for KS1 and KS2 on Zoom. Our group tutorials are 45 minutes each and will run for seven weeks from 8th September, ending at half term. We will advise of further developments as term progresses. Once we return to School, normal subscription arrangements will apply.

Zoom: 914-617-7410 / 058464
KS1 – Tuesdays 5pm, free
KS2 – Wednesdays 5pm, free

Teaching Plan
Celebrating Diversity, we will be learning songs from around the world and investigating the musical element of Tempo. After October half term, we will continue these projects and also prepare seasonal pieces.

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Summer harmonica fun for all the family…
It was great to see so many harmonauts at Paddle Round The Pier 2019. We’re forever grateful to everyone who turned out; mums, dads, relatives and pets!

Paddle is Europe’s largest beach festival and our annual show is the perfect way to end the harmonica year. 2019 was extremely hot, but our harmonauts still blew the roof off. Dressed as Pirates and Sailors they were fantastic. Next year our dress code is Star Wars!

Music and mayhem to end the week
During the Corona lockdown, Harp Academy went online with weekly lesson links, live tutorials, and the ever popular Live@5 show. Our Friday YouTube shenanigans featured regular moments of mischief, harmonica interludes, quizzes, and a pie-tastic finale.

We’re delighted that our Live at Five broadcasts were so popular and who knows, one day we may resume the weekly mayhem. In the meantime, you can continue to enjoy our offerings by clicking through the links below.

Enjoy our previous Live@5 broadcasts
Live at Five 1a      Live at Five 1b      Live at Five 2     Live at Five 3     
Live at Five 4        Live at Five 5        Live at Five 6      Live at Five 7  
Live at Five 8        Live at Five 9        Live at Five 10   Live at Five 11

Harmonica Lesson Outtakes
Today we were working on a new way to play the C major scale, by pairing notes. We call this playing in couplets. It makes a simple exercise more exciting and promotes good breathing and navigation skills. We can add other effects to make the process even more challenging, such as legato and staccato, and emphasise notes. Eventually we produce a fun melody with an Irish twist.

So what do we mean by a couplet?’ asked the teacher. No reply. ‘The answer’s in the word! Try removing the last two letters‘ the teacher prompted. ‘I know, I know‘, said Jake, ‘it’s a small cup‘.