GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Master harmonica player David Barrett conducted one of his master class workshops at the Aston Waikiki Sunset Hotel on Tuesday.

Schooled in blues harp

Harmonica students put their mouth
where the mike is

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By Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com

It's not often that students of any particular musical instrument get to perform for the public right after their studies, but that opportunity will come around tomorrow for eight blues harmonica players attending an advanced workshop this week.

Instructor David Barrett arrived from San Jose, Calif., with solid credentials and a weeklong course he guarantees will double the skill level of any harmonica player. It's Barrett's mission to give his charges enough of his knowledge and skills to have them formulate their own playing style when they step up to the microphone at Kapono's tomorrow, with Bluzilla as their backup band.

Talking in between Tuesday afternoon's lessons at the Aston Waikiki Sunset Hotel, Barrett said he picked up the harmonica when he was 14. "I had already learned to play the sax and trumpet before and I wanted to stay in music. I liked the portability of the instrument.

"The focus here in this class is in blues; harmonica players get a good amount of the limelight in this kind of music, much like drummers in heavy metal. And a concentrated number of the best players naturally go to blues, although they could also have a background in country and rock."

Even though the harmonica, since the rise in popularity of urban Chicago blues, has been mostly associated with the blues, Barrett said that "in the '50s, a group like the Harmonicats were very popular in mainstream pop music."

Their melodic and accessible sound helped generate so much interest in the mouth organ that Barrett said "there were around 500 regular harmonica clubs in Chicago alone."

BECAUSE THE BLUES has such an oral tradition, it's easy for just about anyone with a musical ear simply to pick up a harmonica and "listen, copy and try" their hands (and mouths) with the blues.

"Harmonicas are tuned to one key only, and with the blowing and drawing of breath, you really can't play a wrong note," Barrett said. "Technically, in a few weeks, anyone can sound decent."

What he brings to his students is his ability to improve their technique and mouth movement, taking what he jokingly calls a "Kumbaya instrument, usually thought of on the same level as a kazoo," and make music requiring skill, imagination and dexterity.

Blues harmonicas are the small, diatonic, 10-hole instruments. Larger, chromatic ones are usually used in jazz or classical music.

KIPO Blues Night With Bluzilla and special guest harmonica players Mark Hummel, David Barrett and his workshop students Where: Kapono's, Aloha Tower Marketplace When: 6 to 9 p.m. for the harmonica performances tomorrow, with Bluzilla as featured band after 9 p.m. Admission: $5, $3 HPR members; $7, $5 HPR members starting at 9 p.m. Call: 955-8821

Because harp musicians like Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson, James Cotton, John Mayall, Charlie Musselwhite and Magic Dick of the J. Geils Band, Rod Piazza and Kim Wilson, have more appeal to baby boomers, the bulk of Barrett's students are men between 42 and 55 years old.

And Barrett expects his eight advanced students, by workshop's end, "to write an original song based on the concepts they've learned."

During Tuesday's session, he worked on coherence, solo structure and "bringing it home," knowing how to finish each musical thought and phrase, as opposed to "noodling" through a solo that may lose sight of the basic rhythm, lose the backup band's support and the audience's interest. His aim was to "make more digestible" music.

The proof of each student's success in learning comes tomorrow. You can't ask for a better final.

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