National Harmonica League
   HOME
*





National Harmonica League
HarmonicaUK (formerly the National Harmonica League) is a UK-based organisation for harmonica players and enthusiasts of all styles of harmonica – chromatic, diatonic, tremolo, chord, bass – and music – traditional, blues, popular, jazz and classical. It has been active since 1935. HarmonicaUK is a registered Charity (England & Wales), and its current President is Paul Jones. Previous Presidents include Larry Adler and Ronald Chesney. The current Chair is Barry Elms. Previous Chairs include Pete Hewitt, Ben Hewlett, Roger Trobridge, Colin Mort and John Walton. The Charity changed its name to HarmonicaUK at the AGM in Nov 2020. HarmonicaUK is based in Great Britain, but has members and contributors from around the world, and membership is open to anyone. It welcomes players of all levels, including beginners, and it can help with questions about getting started or improving your playing ability. It organises festivals, events and tuition meetings. The festival includes w ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Paul Jones (singer)
Paul Jones (born Paul Pond, 24 February 1942) is an English singer, actor, harmonicist, radio personality and television presenter. He first came to prominence as the original lead singer and harmonicist of the rock band Manfred Mann (1962–66) with whom he had several hit records including "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" ( UK #1, US #1) and "Pretty Flamingo" (UK #1). After leaving the band, Jones established a solo career and notably starred as a deified pop star in the film '' Privilege'' (1967). He presented ''The Blues Show'' on BBC Radio 2 for thirty-two years, from 1986 to 2018, and continues to perform alongside former Manfred Mann bandmates in the Blues Band and The Manfreds. Career Paul Jones was born as Paul Pond in Portsmouth, Hampshire. As "P.P. Jones" he performed duets with Elmo Lewis (better known as future founder member of the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones) at the Ealing Club, home of Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, whose singers included Long John Baldry and Mick Jag ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands within the British Isles. Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is , with an estimated 2020 population of more than 67 million people. The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales, annexed in 1542) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 170 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica include diatonic, chromatic, tremolo, octave, orchestral, and bass versions. A harmonica is played by using the mouth (lips and tongue) to direct air into or out of one (or more) holes along a mouthpiece. Behind each hole is a chamber containing at least one reed. The most common is the diatonic Richter-tuned with ten air passages and twenty reeds, often called the blues harp. A harmonica reed is a flat, elongated spring typically made of brass, stainless steel, or bronze, which is secured at one end over a slot that serves as an airway. When the free end is made to vibrate by the player's air, it alternately blocks and unblocks the airway to produce sound. Reeds are tuned to individual pitches. Tuning may involve changing a reed’s length ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Larry Adler
Lawrence Cecil Adler (February 10, 1914 – August 6, 2001) was an American harmonica player. Known for playing major works, he played compositions by George Gershwin, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Malcolm Arnold, Darius Milhaud and Arthur Benjamin. During his later career, he collaborated with Sting, Elton John, Kate Bush and Cerys Matthews. Early life Adler was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Sadie Hack and Louis Adler. They were a Jewish family. He graduated from Baltimore City College high school. He taught himself harmonica, which he called a mouth organ. He played professionally at 14. In 1927, he won a contest sponsored by the ''Baltimore Sun'', playing a Beethoven minuet, and a year later he ran away from home to New York. After being referred by Rudy Vallée, Adler got his first theatre work, and caught the attention of orchestra leader Paul Ash, who placed Adler in a vaudeville act as "a ragged urchin, playing for pennies".''Current Biography 1944'', pp. 3–5 Career From ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Chesney And Wolfe
Ronald Chesney (born René Lucien Cadier; 4 May 1920 – 12 April 2018) and Ronald Wolfe (born Harvey Ronald Wolfe-Luberoff; 8 August 1922 – 18 December 2011) were British television comedy scriptwriters, best known for their 1960s and 1970s sitcoms ''The Rag Trade'' (1961–63, 1977–78), '' Meet the Wife'' (1963–66), ''On the Buses'' (1969–73) and ''Romany Jones'' (1972–75). When their partnership began in the mid-1950s, Chesney was already known to the public as a harmonica player. Early life Ronald Chesney Chesney, who was of French descent, was the son of Marius, a silk trader, and Jeanne (''née'' Basset). He left the French Lycée school in London at the age of 16, and began using his English name. He became a chromatic harmonica player, performing professionally from the age of 17. Touring the ABC Cinema chain, he played on BBC Radio broadcasts from 1937, the first being ''Palace of Varieties''. Declared unfit to serve in the Second World War because of the remo ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Philip Achille
Philip Achille is a British harmonica player who attended Solihull School, a British private school in the West Midlands. He is currently studying chromatic harmonica at the Royal College of Music. Achille is also able to play the bass and the saxophone, as well as the piano, employing both jazz and classical styles. His recent achievements include: * National Harmonica League Player of the Year 2005 *World Youth Solo Chromatic Harmonica Champion 2005 *World Open Harmonica Champion 2005 *Tabor Foundation Award 2006 *Birmingham International Jazz Festival Young Musician 2006 * Eurovision Young Musician of the Year Finalist 2008 *Achille was featured on the soundtrack for the 2007 movie ''Mr. Bean's Holiday''. *Achille played Larry Adler's theme music from the British film comedy "Genevieve" with John Wilson's Ochestra at the BBC Proms at the Albert Hall, London, in 2007. *Achille played the introduction section for Jon Bon Jovi's finale of the Royal Variety Performance 2007 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Brendan Power (harmonica Player)
Brendan Power is a New Zealand harmonica player, composer and inventor, living in Britain. Born in Mombasa, Kenya, Power's family moved to New Zealand in 1965 where he later attended Canterbury University at Christchurch, gaining a Bachelor of Arts in English & Religious Studies, and a Master of Arts in Religious Studies. Power wrote his thesis on the Taoist philosopher Chuang Tzu. Power discovered the harmonica at university after hearing Sonny Terry play at a concert by the blues duo Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Power subsequently taught himself to play harmonica by ear and music soon took over from academia as his main passion. Power moved to London in 1992 where he worked for three years as a soloist in the Riverdance Show. He was later employed by Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation of Japan as their International Harmonica Specialist in 2008, a position he held for five years. In April 2013, along with his business partner Zombor Kovacs, Power started X-reed Harmonic ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

1935 Establishments In The United Kingdom
Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to successfully complete a solo flight from Hawaii to California, a distance of 2,408 miles. * January 13 – A plebiscite in the Territory of the Saar Basin shows that 90.3% of those voting wish to join Germany. * January 24 – The first canned beer is sold in Richmond, Virginia, United States, by Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company. February * February 6 – Parker Brothers begins selling the board game Monopoly in the United States. * February 13 – Richard Hauptmann is convicted and sentenced to death for the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr. in the United States. * February 15 – The discovery and clinical development of Prontosil, the first broadly effective antibiotic, is published in a series ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Music Organisations Based In The United Kingdom
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect of all human societies, a cultural universal. While scholars agree that music is defined by a few specific elements, there is no consensus on their precise definitions. The creation of music is commonly divided into musical composition, musical improvisation, and musical performance, though the topic itself extends into academic disciplines, criticism, philosophy, and psychology. Music may be performed or improvised using a vast range of instruments, including the human voice. In some musical contexts, a performance or composition may be to some extent improvised. For instance, in Hindustani classical music, the performer plays spontaneously while following a partially defined structure and using characteristic motifs. In modal jazz th ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica include diatonic, chromatic, tremolo, octave, orchestral, and bass versions. A harmonica is played by using the mouth (lips and tongue) to direct air into or out of one (or more) holes along a mouthpiece. Behind each hole is a chamber containing at least one reed. The most common is the diatonic Richter-tuned with ten air passages and twenty reeds, often called the blues harp. A harmonica reed is a flat, elongated spring typically made of brass, stainless steel, or bronze, which is secured at one end over a slot that serves as an airway. When the free end is made to vibrate by the player's air, it alternately blocks and unblocks the airway to produce sound. Reeds are tuned to individual pitches. Tuning may involve changing a reed’s length ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]