HarmonicaUK Newsletter - May 2025

Hello and Welcome to the HarmonicaUK May 2025 Newsletter

Hello again HarmonicaUK members,

As we head into Spring, things are also heating up at HarmonicaUK. We’ve had a lot of great feedback from our members, and we’re making exciting progress.

As many of you know, I stepped up as Chairman on short notice. The last six months have been extremely challenging both personally and professionally. Fortunately, I’ve had great support from the past chairs, the committee and our volunteers. I sincerely appreciate everyone who has offered their support and help, but mostly to our members for their patience, kindness, and understanding during this challenging time.

HarmonicaUK Events

Don't forget to join us tomorrow, Satuday 3 May, for our Open Mic event at 5 pm BST. 

Then, in just over a week, on Monday 12 May,  we’ll begin taking bookings for the annual HarmonicaUK Festival that will be on the 17-19 October. We’ll send out a special email when the page is online. Our new Events Manager, Iain Buik, is eager and ready to help make this festival another unforgettable event. We have some exciting announcements to share this month when we disclose our full lineup of artists and workshop leaders, and a few surprises as well.

Those of you who joined us for the Konstantin Reinfeld Saturday Session in March were treated to a thoroughly enjoyable hour. Konstantin dazzled us with his virtuosity across various musical genres, playing the diatonic harmonica chromatically, in the style of his teacher and mentor, Howard Levy. He also discussed tips and the importance of establishing a good practice routine. A big thank you to HarmonicaUK member Bill Eborn, who acted as Compere for the event. The link for the video and the backlog of videos from last year’s Saturday Sessions will be available in the members' area this weekend.

Coming up next month, Annie Raines will be with us at the 14 June Saturday Session. Annie is a native of the Boston/New England area of the United States. Annie began playing at age 17, fascinated by the sounds of Muddy Waters, Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson II, she immersed herself in the music of Chicago. She began to busk locally and played gigs at local venues, and later travelled to Chicago, where she met and played with Pinetop Perkins and James Cotton. Annie can also be seen in the recently released documentary about James Cotton, Bonnie Blue: James Cotton's Life in the Blues.

Membership

Our membership numbers have remained consistent for many years, but as our President, Paul Jones, recently told me, too many UK Harmonica players haven’t heard of HarmonicaUK. If you are a harmonica-related vendor or teacher and regularly communicate via the Royal Mail with your customers or students and would like to help by including a HarmonicaUK card in the packaging, please contact [email protected]

Speaking of vendors and teachers, we’ll very soon offer special professional memberships for harmonica-related vendors and teachers, which will come with additional benefits. As a UK charity and in our 90th year, our mission is to help promote and advance the harmonica and its music, in the UK and Worldwide. If you are a vendor or teacher and you share similar goals, please reach out to discuss how we can work together.

Outreach

Aidan Sheehan, the Harmonica UK Outreach Programme Officer, has been very busy introducing the Harmonica to various groups, from a bi-weekly harmonica group for army veterans to home-schooled children. Aidan has also been busy planning and organising extracurricular activities for these groups, including an open-mic performance at a local pub and putting his ex-service personnel group at the barracks together with the young people to take part in one or two public performances, including a potential flash mob in Cwmbran town centre. Aidan will also write a regular column for Harmonica World about his experience working with these various groups.

Harmonica World

Speaking of the magazine, we finally have a proof in hand after a number of rewrites that were required after many delays. It will be going to press next week, and it's a bumper issue like we've never produced. Following that, you'll receive another issue every other month for the rest of the year, like we used to just a couple of years ago.  We definitely know that our members consider the magazine as one of the most significant benefits of membership. Again, thank you, everyone, for your patience.

Harmonically yours,

Gene Myers

Chair, HarmonicaUK