Two New Harmonica Family Members

Coldean Primary School
We are proud and delighted to welcome Coldean Primary School to our harmonica family. Richard Taylor is leading whole class harmonica each week for KS2 children as part of the the school’s PPA cover programme.

The programme provides full time staff with a fortnightly opportunity to prepare lessons, develop projects and engage in professional training, while Harp Academy adds musical enrichment to the KS2 children’s curriculum.

Saltdean Primary School
A special welcome to our brand new harmonauts at Saltdean Primary School. Lizzy will be busy leading our 10 week small group music learning programme for Reception and Key Stage 1 children. We look forward to ending the Summer Term with a short performance.

Our groups at Saltdean are led by Richard Taylor

Harmonica for 4-7 Year Olds

Would you like to include music-making on the harmonica in your Early Years setting?

Here’s Richard presenting Play Harmonica, the theme tune from Harp Academy’s early years harmonica courses for 4-7 year olds. He’s using a 4 hole easy-play Speedy harmonica (available in our Store). Set to the tune of Wind The Bobbin Up/There’s A Dinosaur, the song encourages young players to acquire the following key skills:

∙ Hole location by number – 1 2 3 4
∙ Breath control – Blow and Draw
∙ C Major Arpeggio – C E G C
∙ Musical Alphabet (with Makaton) – A B C D E F G
∙ Progression to C Major Scale – C D E F G A B C
∙ Enjoyment of Rhythm and Rhyme
∙ Follow hand signals for intonation
∙ Read and follow harmonica arrow tab notation

If you would like access to the backing track, harmonica tabs, or further details about music making on the harmonica and running weekly sessions in your Early Years setting, get in touch using the details on our Contact page. Please also visit our Early Years menu for more insight into our Pre-School harmonica activities, or our KS1 for young School Age children.

FLASHBACK: Paddle Round The Pier 2019

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!

Health & Safety Notice for Harmonica Activities

Covid Safe Harmonica
As we resume harmonica teaching in our schools this term, we will inform you by email and school bulletin. For our small groups and club scenarios, we respectfully ask that harmonauts and parents observe the following important safety requirements:

Covid-19 Health Declaration 
Please submit a health declaration form prior to your child’s first after-school harmonica club session (after-school harmonica club participants only). General safety guidelines for all our harmonica students and grown-ups are below… (more…)

Behind the scenes

Harmonica lessons at Harp Academy HQ

During the long break from teaching at School, we’ve been busy refurbishing Harp Academy headquarters, and we’ve now started teaching one-to-one lessons in a live format.

The very first students to enjoy our new set up were Dylan from Goldstone, followed by his schoolmate Joe. Here’s Joe learning blues harmonica and enjoying the new set up. Dylan and Joe are both making amazing progress.

We also had a lovely visit from Chyanne and Jacob this week. They spent the afternoon checking out where our harmonicas are cleaned and repaired, where our teaching resources are created and where we store everything. They also tried out the new teaching facility where we practiced the theme music to Jurassic Park. As you can see, Chyanne took some fabulous souvenirs home afterwards!

The new teaching space has dedicated access, plenty of ventilation, space for safe distancing, and a great view across the garden. If you’d like to book a private lesson with Richard at Harp Academy HQ in Hove, send an email from the Contact page in our menu and we will get you set. We also offer online lessons using Zoom or Skype, where you can choose your preferred Harp Academy teacher.

In the meantime, we hope you’re enjoying the summer holidays and don’t forget to enter our harmonica picture postcard competition! There are some great prizes to be won. Full details are here on our home page.