Inspiring Music Appreciation in Young Children

I think (and write) about the harmonica A LOT but what I've been thinking about lately is broader: How important playing an instrument, any instrument, is to inspiring music appreciation in young children. Personally, I started to play harmonica when I was a kid. Further, my whole life has been a perpetual process of picking up and putting the thing down. Lo' these many years later, I now have my own children. Even more, they are both budding musicians--a fact I'm extremely grateful for. Call me immodest, but, I take a little bit of credit for inspiring their "playing." Here's why...

When my children were four or five, my harmonica life was in one of its "off" periods. That was understandable, I think, because we'd been busy raising twins (still are); and believe me, that can take up the better part of the day. Still, I very much knew I wanted them to play an instrument someday and that I wanted music to become an organic part of their lives. But how to lead them?

Eventually, I made a conscious decision that I now see was driven by a single desire: Whatever I did as a father, I did NOT want to preach, "practice, practice, practice" at them. I find that kind of daily berating (especially if it comes from someone who doesn't themselves even play an instrument) counter-productive.

Rather, I decided instead I'd immerse my kids in handmade music by giving off a good, daily dose of sound from my only real instrument, the harmonica. And believe me, what I produce isn't always a beautiful sound. I know I'm not the greatest harmonica player in the world; and even if I was, I know as well as anyone that too much of a good thing...

Upshot: My kids now play. And, I think, it's not because anyone ever told them to (neither parent ever did). Rather, they play because they both got to a point somewhere along the line, after hearing their parents regularly pick up an instrument and make something come out of it, when they each said, "I want to play piano," and "I want to play violin." In other words, the decision was all theirs, occurring against a backdrop of actual, authentic, handmade musical sound ("recorded" sound is not a substitute for what I'm talking about here).

In sum, it's extremely important for young parents who want their children to become musical, to themselves try to derive pleasure on their own from "playing" a musical instrument (it's no mistake that it's called "playing" music). Set an example and keep the "practice!" speech to an absolute minimum. Trust me on this one, folks, take steps to make music a fun, playful part of your life and it won't turn into something that's like "work" (a fact which your kids may someday thank you for).

Jim McLean is the inventor of the world's first and only playable harmonica USB flash drive, the "FlashHarp" (Pat. Nos. D602,940 & D624,550), which may be purchased at "Arts & Artisans" stores on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, as well as at the "BackyardBrand" store on Etsy, "the all things handmade" Web site. FlashHarp is a registered trademark of FlashHarp Music LLC. "The Backyard Harmonica Teacher," McLean instructs the video harmonica lesson that's available on the FlashHarp. See McLean demo the invention at http://www.harmonicausbdrive.com. See him perform a bit at http://www.FlashHarpMusic.com. FlashHarp is also available boxed together along with a full-size, 10-hole harmonica, "The Plug 'n Play," in a product called the "Musical Combo." Both are products of Backyard Brand®.

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Fun High-Tech Musical Instrument Has Real Outdoorsy Style

I love to go on overnight camp-outs with my Girl Scout kids. And when we're out there, I really appreciate all the different kinds of sounds we can hear; birds chirping, twigs crunching under feet. Running water. The wind through leaves. These naturally musical sounds are a big part of what the outdoors has to offer us, as food for our souls.

Given this fact, the lack of products to be found at camping goods and recreational/outdoor stores for making "outdoorsy" music amazes me. More music-making material and less "just stuff" would make many a "sound hound" fan of the wide-open spaces a lot happier.

Harmonicas are wonderfully portable musical instruments and ideal for camp-site learning and merrymaking.

Best of all, learning to play the harmonica doesn't take much. Just a little time on your hands and the right instrument with which to learn.

I know, I know. There are tons of excuses not to learn to play. Say you buy a harmonica; there's the real chance you won't be able to master it. Then what? The thing will just end up in the back of a drawer, reminding you once a year of what could have been (imagine the gazillions of harmonicas getting mustier by the minute in camper glove compartments the world over).

But what if there was a smaller-than-usual harmonica that actually had the guts and know-how to HELP you learn to play? Then, would you consider trying to learn to play? Would that help you over the musical hurdle?

One of the greatest, jauntiest harmonica songs of all, "Oh, Susannah," sounds especially great in the great outdoors. You can play "Oh, Susannah," with chords--great for beginners--or single notes, too. OK, playing single notes is a BIT trickier; but single-note playing just takes a bit of experimentation and practice (a great way to pass some quality time outside!). The "trying" is the important thing. Do that and you'll be amazed that pretty soon you'll actually be able to do it; it's all about developing the right mouth-and-lip shape. (It's called embouchure.)

The harmonica's popularity really has root in the great outdoors. Consider the Old West, where the instrument caught on in the U.S. Cowboys loved the mix of campfire smoke and the high, lonesome sound of Camp Cookie's trusty mouth organ. In the old South, too, a new kind of harmonica mastery blossomed. There, the instrument's soulful "cross-harp" sound emerged, enabling lots of soulful throat vibrato, bending and whooping. The harmonica played a truly central role in the emergence of the blues.

There's the image of the harmonica as a hobo instrument, too; and it's not entirely misplaced. Look at the harmonica's history in the U.S. and you'll see it all adds up to a compact little instrument with a lot of outdoorsy style.

The really exciting news about the harmonica today is that its shape is proving useful for another instrument as well: the USB flash drive. So now, as in days of old, the harmonica's musical possibilities are once again beginning to bubble and boggle the imagination of folks especially enamored of the great outdoors.

Jim McLean is the inventor of the world's first and only playable harmonica USB flash drive, the "FlashHarp" (U.S. Pat. No. D602,940). FlashHarp is a registered trademark of FlashHarp Music LLC. Also "The Backyard Harmonica Teacher," McLean instructs the video harmonica lesson that's available on the FlashHarp. See McLean demo the invention at http://www.harmonicausbdrive.com. A product of Backyard Brand™, FlashHarp is available packaged together with a full-size, 10-hole harmonica, the "Plug 'n Play." Backyard Brand products may be purchased at http://www.backyardbrand.com.

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