[Harp-L] Teaching harmonica in China
Tony Eyers
You may be interested in a harmonica project I have been
running in China for the last two years. While working in 2006 at
Zhengzhou University, Henan Province, China, I engaged a very smart
Chinese post graduate student, then wrote a harmonica teaching website.
He translated it, put it online in China, and now provides on-going
translation and web mastering services.
You can see the site, at http://www.kouqin.com.cn Kouqin is the Chinese
Pinyin word for harmonica.
The site has been enthusiastically received in China, and has become
very busy. It has more than16000 members, and gets around 3500 hits per
day. There is a forum, which gets about 250 posts a month (about 1/4 the
size of harp-l). There are around 60 lessons, written by myself. There
will soon be 80. There is a lot of my music, as well as profiles and
music for a number of Western masters, used with their permission.
Everything on the site is free.
Having reviewed other Chinese harmonica sites, as well as the comments
on my forum, it would appear that I have become the leading diatonic
harmonica teacher in China.
The teaching process has been interesting. I make my living as an IT
educator, and applied my professional skills to this online harmonica
teaching project. The result is a structured online harmonica teaching
program, covering blues and bluegrass styles, from beginning to very
advanced. I would be happy to share my observations about online
harmonica teaching with the list, if there is interest.
Tony Eyers
Australia
www.harmonicatunes.com
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David Payne
I would be interested in your thoughts about bluegrass harmonica techniques... also the state of Bluegrass in China....
I was trying to get Foggy Mountain Breakdown, but had difficulty because I can not read Chinese.
Thanks
Dave
_______________________
Dave Payne Sr.
Elk River Harmonicas
www.elkriverharmonicas.com
Bruce Lambert
is the information on your harmonicatunes.com site quite different in the
information provided on the chinese site....or very similar?
if they are quite different, what about an english version....or an english
language option on the chinese site?
cheers, bruce
Tony Eyers
>I would be interested in your thoughts about bluegrass harmonica
techniques...
>also the state of Bluegrass in China....
>
>Thanks
>Dave
The site members are mostly enthusiastic beginners, with some more
experienced players who help with questions on the forum (my webmaster
translates some of the posts, as well as my replies). Many questions
relate to sourcing instruments. Something like a Hohner Special 20 is an
expensive luxury for many of them, however there is a range of low cost
Chinese diatonics, some surprisingly good.
There is some interest in Bluegrass. Some site members record their
pieces, post them on the Chinese version(s) of Youtube, then inform the
list. Kind of like an ad hoc version of www.harmonicaboogie.com. As
anyone familiar with Chinese popular music would know, there is a great
liking for slow ballads. This is reflected in the recordings that
members post on the list. Some players have recorded Chinese folk tunes,
which sound very good. I have encouraged them to do more of these.
My lessons cover bluegrass harmonica techniques in great detail,
particularly first position fiddle tunes.
>is the information on your harmonicatunes.com site quite different in the
>information provided on the chinese site....or very similar?
>
>if they are quite different, what about an english version....or an
english
>language option on the chinese site?
>
>cheers, bruce
The information on the Chinese site is much more detailed than the
tutorials on my harmonicatunes.com site. In particular, there are 60
graded lessons (soon to be 80) with many online sound files integrated
with the lessons. The lessons go from beginning to very advanced, and
cover blues, and bluegrass, with a small section on hip hop.
I will be releasing on English language version of this site in May,
which will operate on a paid subscription basis.
Tony Eyers
Australia
www.harmonicatunes.com
David Payne
I'm navigating these Chinese sites like a blind goose in a hailstorm, so if you could post a link for a video, I'd appreciate it.
Growing up in the bluegrass belt in a three-generation family of pickers, it's always interesting to hear foreign bluegrass
There's a group from Bremen Germany, the Bluegrass Reverends, that has a minor bluegrass song "The One I Love" that I'm quite fond of.
profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=123773331
I'm always hungry for information about foreign bluegrass... Stuff like: I wonder if the moonshine at their bluegrass festivals is as good as the stuff that always shows up at ours, etc., or if they have a dog that can sing "In the Pines" like Ronnie Webb always has at the festivals. The dog can sing any bluegrass song there is, as long as it's "In The Pines."
Dave
________________________
Dave Payne Sr.
Elk River Harmonicas
www.elkriverharmonicas.com
----- Original Message ----
From: Tony Eyers <to...@tektel.com.au>
To: har...@harp-l.org
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 11:39:28 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Teaching harmonica in China