Hohner News

Hohner is pleased to announce the launch of the Howard Levy Harmonica School, and we congratulate Howard Levy on this exciting new venture. The opportunity to study directly with a master like Levy through personal video exchanges is a compelling one, and one which we hope many harmonica players will take advantage of.

Howard Levy teaches at a workshop at the World Harmonica Festival 2009

Grammy® Award winner Howard Levy in conjunction with ArtistWorks Inc. (AWI), launched the Howard Levy Harmonica School (HLHS) – the first ever online personal video exchange school, in the first week of December, 2009. The HLHS will teach students around the world to play harmonica, including the various genres of jazz, blues, folk, classical and world music. In this ambitious new venture Levy integrates his years of experience as a player and educator with the innovative video exchange teaching technology of AWI. Because of this unique high-tech collaboration, students around the world can now study one on one with harmonica virtuoso Howard Levy. The fact that Howard Levy has now embarked on another pioneering journey, one that involves multi-genre and multi-cultural possibilities, should surprise no one familiar with Levy’s thirst for new challenges and opportunities related to the harmonica.

Howard Levy performs his concerto for diatonic harmonica at the World Harmonica Festival 2009

Using the latest Internet video exchange technology, Howard breaks the barrier to one-sided learning by personally instructing his students through video exchanges online. Both the student's video and Howard's individualized response are posted together, as a pair, on the site so the entire online community can learn. The HLHS incorporates fully featured social media, including Personal Profile Pages and Chat, which unites the global fraternity of harp players in one central place.

Howard Levy performs for a high school audience in Richmond, VA, in an educational appearance sponsored by Hohner.

Levy’s comprehensive interactive video curriculum is a self-paced program categorized by skill level (beginner harmonica to advanced), as well as by styles (jazz, blues, world music, classical and folk). Student members of the HLHS watch and study the harmonica video lessons at their appropriate skill level or style preference. Using a basic webcam, students record themselves practicing and submit their video online using the site’s video exchange system. Once the student’s video is uploaded, Levy reviews every video and responds directly to students with a personalized critique, either by video or written evaluation. The exchange between master harmonica teacher and student are subsequently published on the site for all students in the community to learn from. All online lessons are available for a $60.00 subscription fee for a three-month period.