In 1969, Chicago was at the center of the birth of a revolution. The place was Northwestern University during student orientation. The occasion was a fundraising speech by the Chicago Seven. The revolutionary was Howard Levy, but it wasn’t politics or society as a whole that he altered.
“I had been trying for months to bend notes on the harmonica like Paul Butterfield, with no success,” Levy says.
“So I was in my first year of college, at this speech, and it really flipped me out. I walked out of there, took my harmonica out of my pocket, and all of a sudden I could bend a note. Something must have snapped.”
What made that moment a big deal in the evolution of harmonica playing was that Levy was playing a diatonic harmonica, an instrument made to produce the eight notes of a scale in a particular key but not all 12 notes of a chromatic scale.
If a musician wanted to change keys, he or she had to change harmonicas, or resort to the chromatic harmonica, an instrument that was constructed to play all the notes in any key but had a very different sound. No one had ever played all 12 notes on a diatonic harmonica.
“I didn’t really like the sound of the chromatic harmonica,” Levy recalls. “I wanted to play jazz and all that stuff on the same instrument I played blues on. I would play along with the radio, and get very frustrated. I knew my harmonica couldn’t play all 12 notes, but I couldn’t afford to buy all the harmonicas to cover all the keys. So I started blowing in crazy ways.”
These “crazy ways” are referred to nowadays as bends, overblows and overdraws-mouth-manipulating techniques Levy developed to get what he wanted.
“One day this note came out that wasn’t on the instrument,” marvels Levy in a hushed tone. “I realized it was one of the missing notes. I also realized that if that note was there, maybe the others were there too.
“So I became fanatical, practicing all the time, anywhere I could, and I actually learned how to play the complete chromatic scale within about six months.
“In July of 1970, I found the last note in the puzzle. It’s my footnote in musical history.”
It is more like a chapter in harmonica history, because Levy had stumbled upon not simply a novelty, but a new world of expression on the instrument. His brilliant soloing can be searing, lyrical, frantic or tender, as anyone who has heard him with his former band, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, can attest.
Levy has recently made his techniques available to harmonica players everywhere through an instructional videotape released by Homespun Tapes (Box 694, Woodstock, N.Y. 12498; 914-246-2550).
Chicagoans are doubly blessed, as Levy will be offering a two-night workshop and master class Tuesday and Wednesday at the Old Town School of Folk Music, which will be geared toward intermediate and advanced students.
“I’m going to be demonstrating all the different techniques I use to play music,” Levy promises. “Everyone should bring their harmonicas, and should feel free to tape-record the workshops.
“Mental imaging is the key to the whole thing, especially with the harmonica. It’s the only instrument I know of where there’s no fingerings and there’s no visual cue.”
Levy finds inspiration in teaching.
“I think there’s a nice flow between performing, composing and teaching,” he says. “If all you do is perform, you get a little bit of a warped relationship with people. If all you do is sit in your house and compose, you become a hermit or a recluse. If all you do is teach, you lose your edge. So I think a balance is ideal.
“Plus, I’ve learned incredible amounts from my students. They asked the best questions.”
