PBS

Peter's Blues/Pink Raspberry

Peter learns to play the blues on the harmonica. /Peter and Saffron team up for a contest. Peter is feeling down and learns to play the blues on the harmonica. Expressing your feelings through music ...
The Cheat Sheet

Paul McCartney Thinks John Lennon’s Harmonica Riff Helped Give ‘Love Me Do’ a ‘Terrific Sense of Longing’ That ‘Touches the Soul’

In his book, The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul wrote that he and John wrote “Love Me Do” at his childhood home, 20 Forthlin Road. They went up a little garden path, past Paul’s father’s lavender ...
The Boston Globe

A Newton harmonica class is all about the blues

“Write this down: Blow 3, blow 4, draw 3, blow 3,” Phil Kaplan said to his new class of Newton harmonica students. Kaplan told the class he pulled the riff from “Mannish Boy,” the popular 1955 Muddy ...
Smithsonian Magazine

Inhaling the Blues: How Southern Black Musicians Transformed the Harmonica

“Classic Harmonica Blues,” out on May 21, features 20 tracks by the blues’ greatest harmonica players. Photo courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings In the early 20th-century, southern black ...