Harmonicas sing at convention

[Dave Monroe]

Harmonicas sing at convention
By SCOTT WILLIAMS
Posted: Aug. 16, 2007

Brookfield - Slowly breathing in and out, Betty House was surprised to
hear the familiar melody of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

At age 76, she was playing her first song on the harmonica.

"Some people think it's just a toy, but it's a real instrument," House
said. "It can sound like an accordion. It can sound like a horn. It
can sound like a violin."

After spending 50 years listening to her husband play the harmonica,
the Bowling Green, Ky., woman wants to play along.

So she joined him at the annual convention of the Society for the
Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica, an event that
organizers say is being held in Wisconsin for the first time ever.

Continuing until Saturday, the four-day convention at the Sheraton
Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel has attracted more than 500 harmonica
lovers who are eager to teach, discuss and demonstrate.

"If you're a harmonica player, you're in harmonica heaven," said Sam
Calabrese, 88, of Rochester, N.Y.

Although the gathering has plenty of structured workshops and
opportunities for merchandising, one of the most popular spots is
wherever conventioneers congregate for a spontaneous jam session.

Tony and Phil Sardo, harmonica-playing brothers from southern
California, found a comfortable place to sit and entertain themselves
with classics such as "Home on the Range" and "My Darling Clementine."
Before long, they were joined by as many as a dozen other players.

Tony Sardo, 66, said the harmonica's appeal can be explained easily:
It is the only wind instrument that produces sounds through inhaling.

"The music goes right up into your brain," he said.

For others, the magic is in the harmonica's tiny size. Sometimes known
as a "pocket piano," it has been romanticized in countless Hollywood
features as the preferred musical outlet for rough-riding cowboys,
railroad hobos and jailhouse denizens.

Calabrese, who began playing when he was 9 years old, still enjoys
pulling one out of his pocket now and then for a little "Sentimental
Journey," "Stardust" or "St. Louis Blues."

"I don't remember ever not knowing how to play," said the East Coast
resident, who is attending his third national convention.

In the past, the convention has been held in blues and jazz meccas
such as St. Louis and Kansas City.

Milwaukee Harmonica Club President Frank Geers admitted he was a
little surprised when organizers approached him about holding the 2007
gathering in an area more frequently associated with the "oompah-pah"
of polka music.

"Actually, Milwaukee is a good place for harmonica music," he said.

One objective of the convention is to encourage young people to take
up a new generation of harmonica appreciation. So organizers were
happy to see Ted Falcon and Pablo Fagundes, young musicians who were
attending their first convention.

Falcon, 37, of California, and Fagundes, 30, of Brazil, both are
harmonica players who have other instruments in their repertoire. They
came to Wisconsin to perform for conventioneers and showcase their own
unique style of harmonica music with a South American flavor.

In a world where pop music is dominated by guitars and synthesizers,
the young duo sometimes has a tough time finding an audience.

"Getting them there is the hardest," Falcon said. "Once we have them,
they're ours."

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=648447