Harmonica for Kids

Summer Term Enrolment

Richard

We are really looking forward to sharing our 11 week Caribbean Music Celebration with you this Summer. We’re also excited to announce our Summer Harmonica Blow Out at The Alex Children’s Hospital. If you are new to Harp Academy Click here and we’ll send you a free taster invitation and further information. Our returners will find subscription renewal information below, on our How to Pay page and in our email reminders.


Subscription Renewals 
If you are returning, welcome back! Your full subscription of £82.50 for our 11 week summer schedule is now due. Alternatively, you can split your subscription payment into two convenient instalments of £44.00 each. Your first instalment is now due and your second instalment is payable by 15th May 2026. All payments should be made by bank transfer to Harp Academy / NatWest / 27231208 / 60 30 09 / Reference Your child’s name. You can also pay by credit/debit card or PayPal through our Webstore lesson payments menu (no log in required). Second child and staff discounts are also available on application.

Our Summer Teaching Plan
Our Summer theme this year is sunshine music from the Caribbean – from Salsa, Calypso and Soca, to Ska and Reggae. Amongst our favourite tunes are Feeling Hot Hot Hot, One Love, Enjoy Yourself, My Boy Lollipop, 10/10, Best Days of our Lives, Tingalayo, Hänschen Klein, Eat Chocolate and This Old Man. Our Musical Elements focus is on Pulse, Rhythm and Clave, where we will investigate time signatures, metronomes, syncopation and conducting.

See you this Summer… and please tell all your friends!
We wish you all a Happy Summer 2026 and please share our information with other parents/carers in your social media and WhatsApp groups. The harmonica is a magical way to experience music making, and children always enjoy learning with their best friends. Why not recommend a taster session to your harmonaut’s class buddies? Taster sessions are completely free and include a 4 hole starter harmonica to keep! Please note that our agreement with Westdene Primary includes a 10 hole Suzuki Airwave harmonica in lieu of a free taster session.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Richard

Thank you to everyone involved in making Harp Academy happen in 2025! Parents and carers at home, staff colleagues at School, and of course all our wonderful harmonauts who turn up each week to make amazing music.

In a fitting end to the year, this week saw forty of our harmonauts and their grown ups gather at the Royal Alex Children’s Hospital to share their music with children who will remain in critical care throughout the festive season; our love and best wishes go out to each and every one of them and their families.

A huge well done to all our players who represented eight different Primary Schools from Saltdean and Brighton to Hove, Portslade and Shoreham. And well done to all our grown ups who set the time aside to travel to the Royal Alex and show their support. Here’s a message of thanks from the Royal Alex team who helped us put everything together:

Hi Everyone, Thank you all so much for your visit this morning. The children were fantastic! Everyone was so happy and loved hearing the lovely music. Please pass on our thanks to the children and families for their time and the brilliant music. Wishing you all a very happy Christmas!! Best wishes, Katy and the Play Team.

We couldn’t be prouder of you all! We look forward to more music making next term and to our next Blow Out adventure. In the meantime we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2026!

Sample Lesson – When The Saints

Richard

I want to be in that number
It’s time to learn some fun jazz on the harmonica and here’s a song everybody will recognise. It’s called When The Saints Go Marching In and it’s from New Orleans, The song has a long name, so we’ll call it The Saints for short.


The Saints started life as an American gospel hymn and it was sung quite slowly. But once the Jazz Bands of New Orleans got hold of it, they soon gave it some swing! Read more

Harmonica for 4-11 Year Olds

Richard

Would you like to include music-making on the harmonica in your 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.