The Trombone and the Harmonica

 

I spend way too much time thinking about, playing and listening to trombones and harmonicas. These two instruments grabbed me at different points in my life, and for different reasons.

Many of us had that elementary school experience around fourth grade - after playing "Hot Cross Buns" on ocarinas in third grade, a few students decided that they liked making quasi-musical noise. The band room was available for kids in 4th and 5th grade. I was one of those kids that was eager to  goof around in with musical instruments - and kids in band got to leave the main classroom to work with the music teacher for a couple hours a week. That was the main draw for most of us.

On that day early in the fourth grade school year that kids could claim instruments, I had a cold. I stayed home from school for a couple of days. By the time I returned, all of my favorite instruments had been claimed by other kids - the trumpets were gone, the saxophones were gone, the violins were gone. There was a collection of sad orphan instruments - violas, French horns, and trombones.  I picked a trombone as the "least worst" instrument available.

Well, I was ambivalent about the trombone for a while.  It was an awkward instrument - the slide was hard for short 9-year old arms to manipulate.  It was a long horn and I had a tendency to bump into other musicians in the band. I sounded like crap - thin tone and generally off-pitch.  I had enough musical awareness to know that I sucked. I didn't quit, though.  I had caught the music disease and the trombone was my instrument.

I kept at it and became a half-decent trombonist in high school.  I switched to bass trombone for a few years, then back to tenor, then back to bass.  I grew to love the instrument and worshipped the great jazz players - J.J. Johnson, Curtis Fuller, Slide Hampton, Frank Rosolino, Carl Fontana and many more. But the trombone was a tough instrument for me. I had to work hard just to avoid deterioration of my modest skills. I kept hitting walls that I couldn't break through. The music in my head wouldn't come out of the horn. I played through college and graduate school, but put it down when I got my first "real job" and embarked on a business career.

I was a band geek, music nerd in high school. I also used to hang around with guys that had garage bands, playing bad covers of "The House of the Rising Sun" and other chestnuts. I wanted to play with those guys, but the trombone was  not a natural fit with electric guitar, bass and drums. I can't remember how it happened, but I found a harmonica somewhere. Maybe one of my guitar-playing buddies had one.  I discovered it was very easy to get a decent sound of of a harmonica. If you can breathe, you can play it.  There is no need for hand-eye coordination or control of obscure embouchure muscles.

I began seeking out recordings of harmonica players. There are many limited players out there - the Bob Dylans, John Lennons, Mick Jaggers, etc. - that see the harmonica as an easy way to add a different sound to their work. Since I was a working-class white kid in a mostly-white high school (some Asian kids, some Mexican kids, no Black kids), I had to find the good players through white people that stole their shit.  So John Mayall was my first influence. 

I didn't work on the harmonica, but I played it a lot. I could play it while walking down the street. I could play it while I was driving in my car. I kept one in my pocket most of the time - still do. I could play along with guitar players once I figured out how to match harmonica keys to guitar keys (it took me a while to learn that the harmonica sounded best when the key of the harmonica was a 4th higher than the key that the guitar was playing in (so a harmonica in the key of A sounded great when the guitarist is playing in E). This is elementary stuff, but it was revolutionary to me when I was 16 years old.

I eventually found the real masters of the harmonica - Little Walter Jacobs, Big Walter Horton, James Cotton, George Harmonica Smith, Junior Wells.  Since I was a jazz nut, I found Toots Thielman and fell in love with jazz on the chromatic harmonica. Oh, and Stevie Wonder - a harmonica God for sure. And Howard Levy - the superhero who mastered chromatic music on the little old diatonic harmonica, which is not designed to play chromatic music.

Since I started playing trombone again in March, I have been appreciating the similarities and differences between my chosen musical weapons. Both are very vocal instruments - the trombone can sound like people talking (remember the teacher in the Charlie Brown animated specials?).  The harmonica can also put out wails and moans that sound very human.  The differences between the two instruments are also obvious - harmonicas can play chords, trombones cannot.  Getting a decent sound out of a harmonica is relatively easy (if you can breathe, you can play a chord); getting a decent sound out of the trombone takes quite a lot of practice; it requires unnatural buzzing of lips and control of airflow. The process of learning to play the trombone is like lifting weights - you have to get your reps in and build muscles; if you lay off for any significant period, the trombone "chops" begin to atrophy. Playing a harmonica is like walking - it is easy, almost anyone can do it and you can sit for a long time without losing your ability to walk.

Of course, if you want to truly master one of these instruments, you must be focused and dedicated. In that sense, the instruments are identical.

Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica

We humans like to flock together in groups that are organized by passionate interests. Bowling leagues, book groups, trade associations, fan clubs - the list is very long. One such sub-group is the Society for the Preservation andAdvancement of the Harmonica, or SPAH. Every instrument has at least one organized group of passionate players/admirers. There is the International Trombone Association, the Guitar Foundation of America and, of course, the Ukelele Guild of Hawai'i ("UGH" for short). I have not hung out with the members of all those groups. I have hung out with the members of SPAH, because I chew on the dang tin sandwich (translation - I play the harmonica).

So the members of SPAH roughly break into three groups:

1. The Traditionalists: These folks are trying to keep a dying musical tradition alive - the harmonica group. The basic traditional harmonica group is a trio - a chromatic harmonica player that carries the melody, a chord player that provides "rhythm" harmony backing for the lead (using a three-foot long instrument), and a bass player that honks on the harmonica equivalent of a tuba. If you are old enough, you might remember the Harmonicats - that is the musical style that the Traditonalists treasure. It is damn hard to play this type of harmonica music. It harkens back to the vaudeville era - harmonica bands were big in the 1920's and 1930's. As you might imagine, the Traditionalists tend to be a bit older than the average SPAH member.
2. The Blues Crowd: I fall in this group. Playing mostly diatonic harmonicas (small 10-hole instruments), these folks worship Little Walter Jacobs, Big Walter Horton, Sonny Boy Williamson II, George "Harmonica" Smith, Kim Wilson, Junior Wells and the rest of the folks that made the harmonica sound part of the American pop soundtrack.
3. The Monsters: These are the folks that have become true masters of the harmonica and all of its possibilities. Most of them play jazz, but there are also classical monsters and Irish music monsters. Howard Levy, Toots Thielmans, James Conway are three players that come to mind that fall into this category. Howard Levy is a terrifying player - he must have sold his soul to the Devil to get the wicked talent that he displays on the diatonic harmonica.

SPAH has one major blow-out every year - the annual convention. The 2010 event was in Minneapolis; 2011 will be in Virginia Beach. I have only attended one of these events. They are really quite remarkable. The top players hang out with the beginners and teach, provide tips and encouragement. This would be like the Major League Baseball All-Star Team hanging with the softball team sponsored by Joe's Bar & Grill, providing companionship and coaching. People tend to stay up all night for three nights straight, blowing harmonicas and acting strange. It is a gloriously joyful event.

Check out some harmonica music when you have a chance. Stevie Wonder is a great entry point. Dig into Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Chase down Howard Levy. You will be amazed.