Category: Documentary

The History of HarmonicaUK (Part 2, 1939-1950)

Archie Leave a comment

HarmonicaUK started life as a Hohner marketing activity in 1935 and remained so until it was handed over to the members in 1981. It was first called the Hohner Song Band League, then the National Harmonica League and finally HarmonicaUK.

We left 1939 with a young pair of chromatic harmonica players, Ronald Chesney and Tommy Reilly, just starting their careers and Larry Adler enjoying world wide fame as a World War was breaking out.

The Hohner Song Band League stopped officially at the start of the Second World War and did not really get going again as a club until 1951. Despite this, these years turned out to be an important time for the harmonica.

The social changes brought about by the mixing of service men and women from all sections of society and all over the country and in foreign places led to a need for entertainment, and portable instruments like the harmonica were in great demand. Ronald Chesney led a campaign to collect harmonicas to send to the soldiers.

After the war things came together for the harmonica. This is illustrated in the programme notes for a concert of classical music performed by Ronald Chesney in the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in 1947, just after the end of WW2. It was the first solo concert held there by any harmonica player.

Ronald Chesney’s Programme Notes from the Royal Albert Hall

“Finding that his musical ability did not advance beyond the “party-piece” stage, Ronald Chesney’s lessons on the piano terminated at the age of twelve. Freed from the grind of five-finger exercises his natural love of music came to the surface, however, and nine years ago, at the age of seventeen, his studies were resumed. Discovering by chance the possibilities of the mouth-organ, he chose this surprising instrument for serious study and within two years had made his broadcasting debut with instantaneous success.

After appearances in many of the B.B.C.’s major programmes, his own feature, “Teaching the Allied Forces how to play the Harmonica,” commenced and brought him a fan mail running into many thousands of letters. Averaging nearly a hundred a day, Chesney took pride that the majority of these letters came from servicemen, stationed in all parts of the world – from the desert and from the lonely arctic circle, where the pocket- sized mouth organ was a substitute for full-sized symphony orchestra or swing band, depending on the musical tastes of the player’s comrades. To these men his programmes of instruction and music were a link with home.

His virtuosity on such a small instrument attracted the attention of concert impresario Harold Fielding, who has during recent years presented him in concerts throughout Great Britain, including a musical festival at Sadler’s Wells. Still a bachelor at twenty six and a young man of simple tastes, Ronald Chesney spends most of his time in a workshop at home, improving the mechanical aspect of the harmonica to keep pace with his musical progress. He believes the instrument capable of great improvement and considers he has only just begun to discover its vast musical possibilities.”

The harmonica was being taken seriously at last!

The chromatic harmonica moves into the spotlight

Larry Adler had been playing in America entertaining US troops at home and then in Europe.

Ronald and Larry both went to the Hohner factory in Trossingen as soon as the war ended to get more instruments.

Lots of things were on the move.

Ronald Chesney was touring the country with top musical artists, and Larry Adler was performing in the USA and around the world. He did his own concert at the Royal Albert Hall just after Ronald Chesney.

Tommy Reilly had been interned in a prisoner of war camp at the start of the war, when he was studying violin in Germany.

He spent time developing his technique on the chromatic harmonica. He returned when the war was over and started playing harmonica in Music Hall and on the BBC.

Tommy Reilly had been interned in a prisoner of war camp at the start of the war, when he was studying violin in Germany. He spent time developing his technique on the chromatic harmonica. He returned when the war was over and started playing harmonica in Music Hall and on the BBC.

Max Geldray had escaped to the UK from Holland at the start of the war and joined the Dutch Brigade of the British Army. He began playing in London jazz clubs in his spare time and even played in a concert for the Queen at Windsor in 1942. After the war he continued to find some work in clubs but his big break was just round the corner.

After the war Morton Fraser advertised for harmonica players and started the Morton Fraser Harmonica Gang with demobbed soldiers.

Eric York, Jimmy Prescott and Henry Leslie (aka Cedric/Les Henry) got together after leaving the Army and formed the Monarchs (later The Three Monarchs), initially as a straight act. The comedy came later.

Larry Adler blacklisted in the USA

The clouds were gathering for Larry Adler. He was blacklisted by the US House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 along with many others in show business. This prevented him from working in America, which led to him moving with his family to live in the UK where he was much more appreciated.

The Golden Age of the Harmonica was about to start…

Back to History of HarmonicaUK home index page.

Forward to The History of HarmonicaUK – Part 3

The History of HarmonicaUK (Part 1, 1930-1947)

Archie Leave a comment

HarmonicaUK started life as a Hohner marketing activity in 1935 and remained so until it was handed over to the members in 1981. It was first called the Hohner National Song Band League (SBL), then the National Harmonica League (NHL) in 1982 and finally HarmonicaUK in 2021.

Hohner set up in London

Hohner harmonicas had been sold in the UK for a long time but they set up their first representative, M. Michaelson, in the mid 1870s. This arrangement continued with moderate success either side of WW1 until 1929 when Hohner decided that they needed to a bigger presence and they set up Hohner Concessionaires Ltd. in London They brought in their own people to help run the business which was located first in Farringdon Road and then 21 Bedford Street, Strand, London, but it was still not successful enough

In 1930, Dr Otto Meyer was moved from the Hohner Hamburg Export office to reorganise the new company. He was a British National born in Bradford with an English mother and a German father. It was an inspired choice. In the next few years Dr Meyer encouraged the formation of accordion clubs and he realised the need for more tuition and music for the accordion and harmonica. He brought in specialists to provide this. Initially the concentration was on the accordion.

The birth of the Hohner Song Band League.

In 1935, Charles Millard was asked to create the National Harmonica Song Bands League (HSB) with the objective of the promoting the setting up of Song Bands among the youth organisations of Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State.

Tremolo, diatonic and, increasingly, chromatic harmonicas were the main instruments sold at that time.

Players were urged to join the League, get their membership card and then buy their HSB Harmonica and Song-Books.

Soon 100’s of harmonica bands had joined the membership.

Hohner began to publish a magazine “Accordion Times and Harmonica News” later that year. Jimmy Black became the editor.

The development of the teaching side

Dr Meyer had two pieces of luck at this time.

1 – Captain James Reilly, the father of Tommy Reilly, returned from teaching orchestral and harmonica band music in Canada and he accepted the position of Musical Director of the USB.

He wrote articles for the magazine and produced some of the best known tuition books for the harmonica.

2 – Larry Adler was brought from New York in 1934 by C B Cochran to star in his review ‘Streamline’ on the London stage, By 1935, interest in the chromatic was growing fast and Hohner brought out the “Larry Adler” model. Larry toured Britain playing in the main theatres and presenting prizes to players like the young Harry Pitch who won talent contests in local halls. Hohner’s biggest turnover came in1936.

Regional competitions took place and harmonica bands were set up in churches, schools, scouts and youth groups… Books on how to play the chromatic, and how to organise bands and perform in concerts were produced by the new Hohner Concessionaires.

The bands promoted by Hohner used HSB branded tremolos with orchestral, tenor and standard tunings plus vinetas for harmony. Drums and an accordion were sometimes included.

Chromatic soloists like Ronald Chesney and Morton Fraser were starting to emerge, but the HSB and the magazine, Accordion Times, closed down with the start of WW2 in1939. Hohner was regarded as a German Company although it had become a part of Hohner Inc. in New York. Dr Meyer was arrested but released about four months later after an appeal. He had built up stocks so Hohner managed to keep going through the war period.

It took quite a few years after the end of the war to get the business working normally again, but Dr Meyer had more plans for the HSB.

Back to History of HarmonicaUK home index page.

Forward to The History of HarmonicaUK – Part 2

The History of HarmonicaUK Home Page (1930-Present)

Archie Leave a comment

HarmonicaUK started life as a Hohner marketing activity in 1935 and remained so until it was handed over to the members in 1981. It was first called the Hohner National Song Band League (SBL), then the National Harmonica League (NHL) in 1982 and finally HarmonicaUK in 2021. (Work in progress)

This multi-part history was published in Harmonica World, the magazine which is distributed to members of HarmonicaUK, between 2020 and 2021. It is in 8 parts.

Nick Reynolds, The Alabama 3 via The Sopranos to The Simpsons

Archie Leave a comment

I love to hear the harmonica adding some atmosphere to a film or TV show. Unfortunately the musician who plays the music is rarely credited.

The Alabama 3

I was watching an episode of a series on Channel 5 (British TV) called Finders Keepers and there in the background was that harmonica sound. I checked the website and wrote to the producer and he told me the music was by the Alabama 3, a group from Brixton, in London. Feeling pleased with myself, I watched the program again and saw that their name was on the opening credits…

I visited the Alabama 3 website and found out more about their harmonica player, Nick Reynolds.

Nick Reynolds

Nick was born in London in 1962 and his first band was in the Royal Navy in1979. In 1983, whilst serving in Navy Intelligence in Whitehall, he played with the reformed 60’s group The Pretty Things until 1985 when he went to Australia. On his return to London in 1989 he played in a series of groups – Les Grandes Branleurs, Backstreet Band, the Brit-pop band Octopus, and the experimental electro jazz band Blowpipe before becoming part of the Alabama 3 in 2001. There are more than 3 members and they don’t come from Alabama.

Woke up this morning

Alabama 3 were a new band to me and we don’t have any TV subscription channels. This may explain why when I started looking at their recordings I was unaware of the world wide fame they had achieved when their recording of Woke up this morning was used for the opening credits of The Sopranos. The bluesy rap song with influences from Howlin’ Wolf, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Muddy Waters.

From The Sopranos to The Simpsons

I went off in search of news of The Sopranos and found some great videos and parodies of the opening credits to the TV show.

The Sopranos opening credits
The Simpsons Parody

Alabama 3 in concert

Here are two performances of Woke up this morning by Alabama 3. The first one live in concert and a second small group acoustic one with more of Nick on harmonica.

Woke up this morning – Belladrum 2023
Work up this morning – Cigar Box Sessions 2015

More on Nick Reynolds, harmonica player, writer, sculptor, artist, composer and producer here.

Midnight Cowboy – Toots Thielemans or Tommy Reilly – solved!

Archie Leave a comment

The theme from Midnight Cowboy is one of the best known pieces of music played on harmonica.

This is the version from the Soundtrack Album of John Barry’s music for the Jerome Hellman – John Schlesinger film Midnight Cowboy.

Everyone knows who played it, don’t they…
It was Toots, wasn’t it???

I stumbled over this question when someone told me it wasn’t Toots Thielemans, it was the British harmonica soloist, Tommy Reilly. It turned out to be more complicated than this.

The making of Midnight Cowboy

John Schlesinger began filming Midnight Cowboy in Florida, Texas and New York in 1968 and during 6 months of post production he realised that he needs some contemporary music for the film. John Barry had written music for Bond films and had also been involved with the UK popular music scene in the 60s as the leader of the John Barry Seven, and an arranger for pop singers, so he was asked to supervise the music for the film.

Some of the music had already been chosen, like Fred Neil’s Everybody’s Talkin‘, sung by Harry Nillson, but more, dramatic music was needed – something which was to become as famous as Everybody’s Talkin‘. A lonely harmonica tune that almost anyone could play.

The recording of the harmonica soundtrack with Toots Thielemans

John Barry said, “I wrote the harmonica theme, in which the counter melody is more important than the melody, giving a general repetitive feeling like going nowhere, to reflect the underbelly of New York. For the actual melody, I wanted something very unsophisticated, that any guy sitting outside a gas station in Texas could play. “

“We kept the instrumentation very simple, 12 string guitars, a rhythm section and the harmonica, so that the theme of Midnight Cowboy in the score would fit in with the musical language of the Nillson song.”

Toots Thielemans was living near New York at that time and his chromatic harmonica brought great tenderness and longing to the theme. He also can be heard on some of the re-recorded Nielsen pieces in the earlier part of the film. All the harmonica heard during the film is played by Toots.

The recording of the Film Music Album with Tommy Reilly

The commercial release of music from the film Midnight Cowboy is a bit more complicated. Eight of the twelve tracks on the sound track LP, called the Original Motion Picture Score released by United Artists Records (Liberty 1A 054-90639), were from the New York film soundtrack recordings, but the other four tracks, including Midnight Cowboy and Joe Buck rides again, were recorded in London in June 1969. This time the harmonica on Midnight Cowboy and Joe Buck rides again was played by Tommy Reilly. Any other harmonica heard on this album is by Toots.

The release of the single versions of the Midnight Cowboy Theme

Following the release of the LP soundtrack album, Toots and John Barry released a 7″ single (45rpm) of Midnight Cowboy on Columbia and Tommy Reilly and The John Scott Orchestra released a 7″ single (45rpm) version on Polydor.

Toots Thielemans and John Barry
Tommy Reilly and John Scott

These recordings show that it was Tommy’s idea to bend the notes in the main theme. Tommy always thought that that Toots was perfect for the movie and did a fantastic job.

The double CD “Midnight Cowboy – Expanded Original MGM Motion Picture Score“

Much of this information comes from the CD notes of the excellent and comprehensive double CD “Midnight Cowboy – Expanded Original MGM Motion Picture Score“. [Quartet Records – QR434, MGM Records – QR434, Universal – QR434].

CD1 has the original LP tracks and some bonus tracks, including alternate versions of Toots playing Midnight Cowboy. CD2 has the music from the original film score. The CD booklet does not say Joe Buck rides again was played by Tommy Reilly.

Background to the John Barry recordings in London

Tommy Reilly’s manager, Sigmund Groven, added more background to the reason for the London re-recording of Midnight Cowboy. “John Barry had worked with Tommy several times before, including on the 1966 Marlon Brando film “The Chase” (soundtrack on CD: Varese Sarabande VSD-5229), and he wanted to feature Tommy in the Midnight Cowboy score.

As it happened Tommy was unavailable; he was on tour in Australia at the time, so John Barry asked Toots to play in the film. However, when Tommy was home after his Australian tour, John Barry was very pleased to be able to use him on the London sessions for the album.”

There are some great videos of Tommy and Toots playing Midnight Cowboy.

Toots plays Midnight Cowboy at 90 years old
Tommy Reilly plays Midnight Cowboy on Dutch TV

Extra Information.

1 – There are two recordings of the theme from Midnight Cowboy recorded by Toots Thielemans and John Barry after the release of the film. The commercial 45rpm version (above) has a “fattened” harmonica sound (flanger?) and the alternative take, which is also on the double CD, sounds like a straight mono recording.

2 – Popular concerts of John Barry’s music (including Midnight Cowboy and Dancing with Wolves) provided regular work for harmonica players. In the UK this has included Jim Hughes and Harry Pitch when Tommy Morgan could not make it from California. Phil Hopkins was once summoned to John Barry’s house in London as there were problems with Tommy Morgan’s UK visa.

Phil auditioned successfully and returned home to practice hard for the concert at the Albert Hall. Just before the performance he got a message that the visa had arrived and Tommy would do the gig. Phil got a cancellation fee and acknowledged that the audience got a better deal hearing Tommy Morgan play the harmonica themes.

3 – Shortly after the London recordings for the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack album Tommy had a telephone call from Polydor Hamburg where he had already made two commercially very successful albums with Kai Warner: Melody Fair and Latin Harmonica. He flew over the next day. They played him a recording from a new film score and asked him if he could play the harmonica exactly the same as the uncredited player on the LP.

The first take was perfect. The producer said: “You are a genius”, and Tommy started to laugh. The producer said: “What are you laughing for?” and Tommy admitted: “That’s me playing on the original record!” The single (Polydor NH 59323), with John Scott as musical director, and with Tommy credited this time (!), climbed the charts in many countries. (Sigmund Groven)

4 – Despite the success of the two recordings by Toots Thielemans and Tommy Reilly, the version recorded by two pianists, Ferrante & Teicher, was nominated for the 1969 Grammy in the category Best Contemporary Instrumental Performance. I don’t think John Barry was very pleased either.

My harmonica video archives on YouTube and Vimeo

Archie Leave a comment

My uploaded harmonica video archives can be found in several places.

YouTube – My first attempts at video production were to capture the annual National Harmonica League (NHL, now HarmonicaUK) concerts in the Folk House in Bristol, starting in 2001 until they were moved after 2018. I also began to digitise some earlier NHL concerts from VHS tapes and early camcorder tapes mainly from recordings by Victor Brooks. Around 230 videos can be viewed on my YouTube site.

Here is the video introduction for this channel.

Vimeo – I prefer the videos to be viewed without ads, and I like the control that a paid Vimeo account allows. The downloading and embedding of the videos can be specified and if a video needs updating or editing it can be uploaded over the original without affecting the original link/url.

My more recent harmonica videos have been uploaded to Vimeo where they can be linked to my websites like this blog. There are over 75. You can view them here

The videos are organised into Showcases where similar videos are grouped together.

Playing the Thing – One group of the Vimeo videos is part of a project to reverse engineer a harmonica film from 1972 – ‘Playing the Thing‘ – directed by Chris Morphet. These are now embedded on a dedicated web site for this project which is recreating the original interviews which were edited to create the original film – Larry Adler, Sonny Terry, James Cotton, Cham-Ber Huang, Duster Bennet, Bill Dicey, Andy Paskas, Hohner’s Factory, Dutch Harmonica Championship … You can watch the original film here,

Dave Beckford (1935 – 2014)

Archie Leave a comment

Dave Beckford’s story is a great example of the way many people took up the harmonica in the 1940s. Similar examples can be found in the lives Jim Hughes, Douglas Tate and the many other people who went on to play in local harmonica contests as soloists and members of harmonica groups.

Dave Beckford was born in Greenwich and spent most of his early life in Welling, London. He took up the diatonic harmonica at a young age and was soon playing popular dance tunes.

After learning how top players like Larry Adler were able to play so well, he saved up and bought his first Super Chromonica in 1950 for £2.16s.4d (£2.82) and played in the school’s Christmas party. When he left Bexley Heath Secondary school in 1951 he took part in a talent contest which led to some appearances for the Granada Theatre in Welling.

Dave became All Britain Chromatic Champion at the first post-war Championship held in in the Central Hall, Westminster, London in July 1953. He was 17 and this was his first major contest.

As Champion, he performed at a regional harmonica contest at the Elephant and Castle Cinema, in South East London, to promote the film Moulin Rouge. This is captured on the cover of the November issue of Harmonica News.

Dave then went out to Germany with Johnny Pluck to play in the World Championships in Duisberg. In 1954 he played with the Steve Race Orchestra on BBC TV, before doing his National Service.

Dave took time out after his time in the Army to raise a family and worked in the printing industry. It was not until the 1980s that he got involved with the harmonica again.

He joined the Blowhards Harmonica Club, a successful educational project run the by Mike Sadler in Gravesend in the late 80s. Dave was able and willing to help with members’ problems. He continued to do harmonica repairs for many years.

It was at one of these meetings that he met Derek Yorke and with the help of a chord player called Ron Mealin, they formed Three-in-Accord. A local headmaster, John Tyler, joined to play bass and so began Four in Accord. There were several personnel changes over the years. Jack Lewis took over the chord when Ron left. When John Tyler died, Dave helped Jim O’Driscoll to take on the bass. Jack Lewis left and Pat Lynus took over on chords. Four in Accord were the last performing quartet in the country and played all over Essex and Kent as well as at harmonica festivals.

Travelling to gigs became a problem for Pat so Roy Green took over the chord for the final line-up of the group after the Bournemouth Centennial festival in 2000. This line-up appeared a number of times at NHL Festivals up to 2007.

Four in Accord with Pat Lynas

Four in Accord with Roy Green

All of the group were members of the National Harmonica League (now HarmonicaUK) and Dave served on the committee for several years in the 1990s as the Secretary. Together they organised joint meetings with the Dartford Folk Club and ran important NHL festivals in Sible Hedingham. They were also important members of the IHO and were very involved with the Millenium Festival run by John Walton in Bournemouth in 2000.

Dave had to stop playing in his later years due to ill health, but he was always good company and a great musician.

Four in Accord – El Cumbanchero
Dave Beckford – Genevieve

Arikę’s Harmonica Bench

Archie Leave a comment

I received an email from my friend Colin Parratt asking if I knew anything about a bench which his friend Martin had come across. I had to confess it didn’t know anything about it so he sent Martin’s photo to me. Martin lives in Folkestone (UK) and was the drummer in the barn dance band Colin used to play in.

The image looked like a bench based on a 7 hole harmonica. Across the back of the seat there is an inscription “Where Souls Meet”. The back of the bench was a strange shape so I decided to find out more about it.

There was an inscription on the side of the bench so I asked Colin to send me a picture of it so we could see what it said.

When I received Colin’s photo things became clearer. The plaque on the side read,

In memory of Arikę 

Musician, visual artist, teacher, therapist, inspirational blues harp player, father, grandfather and a proud black man.

At the bottom of the plaque was a QR code and when I scanned it it revealed a website – https://originsuntold.com

The website belongs to a charity, Origins Untold, a volunteer arts organisation presenting music, poetry, visual arts, fashion and food inspired and created by people of the African diaspora.

The website shows an event was held 12th June 2022, the second anniversary of Arike‘s death, to unveil.
a Blues Harp bench, designed by Pete Phillips and made by Cut Once Woodworks. The group walked from the Bandstand on the Leas in Folkestone, down the Zig Zag path to the Lower Coastal Park, where the bench is situated.

Origins Untold was founded in 2015 by the late, great Arike (aka Stan Grant), who sadly passed away on 12 June 2020 after a tragic accident.

Arike’s vision for the organisation was to broaden and change the conversation about race and about members of the African diaspora. To honour this, it is committed to breaking stereotypes, making unseen connections and unearthing buried histories, acknowledging the contributions that Black people have made to the history of this region and to its present.


In memory of Arikẹ, founder of Origins Ontold – 1949-2020

“Whatever a Black man can do to remind himself that he is fully human, to do it and to keep doing it… I don’t think we need to do more than that…it is just to remind ourselves that we are fully human.”

Arikẹ, 2020

(from the Origins Untold website)

Links

Martin Häffner

Archie Leave a comment

and the German Harmonica & Accordion Museum

Martin Häffner has dedicated his life to educating people about the history of the harmonica, especially the Hohner harmonica company. He has set up a museum, taken the story around the world as a mobile exhibition, written books and led guided tours around Trossingen, Germany, the home of the original Hohner harmonica factory.

This detailed history was co-written with highly regarded harmonica artist and author Steve Baker. He has been a consultant to the Hohner company since 1987 and has been able to gain a unique perspective on the company story. Thanks also to Diana Rosenfelder from the German Harmonica Museum for help in writing this blog page.

Martin was born October 7, 1958, in Schönau near Heidelberg. He graduated from high school in Heidelberg in 1977, and studied history and theology in Tübingen and Vienna until 1986 when he started work as an assistant at the State Museum of Technology and Work in Mannheim.

In 1987 the Hohner Harmonica Collection was sold to the state of Baden-Württemberg as part of a company rescue deal and Martin was commissioned to write a report on it. To complete his work on Hohner, its history and the Hohner collection and to get all the necessary information, Martin was employed by the Hohner company on 1 January 1988. Three years later he became an employee of “Trägerverein Deutsches Harmonikamuseum” (Sponsoring Association of the German Harmonica Museum).

Steve Baker joined Hohner as a consultant in 1987 and when they met there for the first time, Martin led him up into the cavernous attics in Bau V, the accordion works which today houses both the new Harmonica Museum and the Hohner Conservatory and has now been beautifully renovated.


He showed Steve what appeared to be literally tons of unidentifiable stuff, packed in dusty cartons and piled up all over the place without any apparent semblance of order. It looked as though the custodians of Hohner’s company history had simply dumped it all up there and forgotten about it.

Steve Baker

On closer inspection this jumble of relics revealed itself to be a huge collection of historic instruments, documents and advertising material relating to all kinds of aspects of the commercial production of free reed instruments, the largest of its kind in the world. As Steve wrote “Thank heavens the state of Baden Württemberg thought it was worth saving!”

In cooperation with the town of Trossingen, Hohner had agreed to co-finance a modest museum to house the Hohner Collection in the annex of the actual town museum on the high street. Martin began sorting through the vast piles of artefacts and arranged for the most interesting looking articles to be transferred to the new premises. Sifting through a century’s worth of unsorted leftovers was a huge task. Not all of it was of value and some was literally junk, but there were many real gems as well.

Martin had hoped the museum would be ready for the World Harmonica Championships in Trossingen in 1989 but they did not make it. Hohner’s CEO at that time, Dr. Johann Schmid, decided that he wanted to present every festival visitor with a free harmonica from the historic collection. Fortunately Martin was able to intervene and prevented him from giving away any of the really valuable historic instruments. He selected several hundred pieces which he reckoned the museum could do without and every visitor did indeed receive one.

The museum opened to the public in 1991 with over 25,000 harmonica exhibits in time for Hohner’s second World Harmonica Festival, and it has gone from strength to strength ever since. I was fortunate to visit the original museum in 2001. Lots of exhibits were displayed in small rooms with steep stairs. Martin set about producing programs of exhibitions and concerts to publicise the museum and raise money for its development. He took some of them around the world.

When the old Hohner (1911) factory buildings were restored and refurbished for small business use in 2016 the harmonica museum raised the money needed to move the exhibits a short distance to new premises in BAU V.

This provided a large open, bright, space on one floor of the building with more opportunities to display items and documents from the archive for the visitors to the museum.


Other features included office space, a shop, a small cinema and a flexible space for presentations and music performances.

Specially designed units were built to exhibit the most interesting instruments in a structured way, as well as thoroughly documenting the development of the industry.

Martin ensured that the earlier harmonica and accordion companies from the Trossingen area and Klingenthal were featured as well as other Hohner instruments like keyboards.

The permanent exhibition gives an overview of the whole sector including the Hohner family and the many other companies involved, both in Württemberg, Saxony, Vienna and elsewhere.

It is important to remember that Hohner once employed 5000 people, and swallowed up all its regional competitors to become an international household name, so the social component in terms of local history was very significant and is treated accordingly.

Martin was initially attracted to the harmonica by the beautiful packaging and innovative marketing introduced by the first Hohner generation, and a lot of space is devoted to this. Much of the advertising material is well preserved and the exhibition includes numerous examples. The strategies which Hohner developed later became more widespread, but in the 1880s it was not always usual to adapt one and the same product to meet the needs of different national markets worldwide. Hohner was a true pioneer in this area, and one of Martin’s most important goals was the documentation of both the means by which Hohner’s remarkable commercial success was achieved, and its impact on the social history of Trossingen and the region as a whole. It’s pretty amazing to think that within the space of a single generation, this isolated Black Forest village became the hub of a worldwide commercial empire, a development which alone is worthy of the interest of historians.

Another more controversial aspect of Martin Häffner’s work was his documentation of the history of the Hohner company during the Third Reich. As a historian, Martin felt unable to ignore the documentary and photographic evidence of its involvement in the war effort and extensive use of forced labour which was preserved in the Hohner Collection. The permanent exhibition shows a range of photos depicting the factory and its workers during the Nazi era, as well as historical instruments from both world wars. He didn’t presume to judge, but felt duty bound to document what had happened.

Mattiias Hohner

Martin’s hero is Matthias Hohner (1833-1902), and he takes visitors on tours around Trossingen to show where Matthias and his family lived and worked.

Occasionally the ghost of Matthias can still be seen talking to people in the museum about the company he created.

Martin “Matthias” Häffner

The existence of a museum like this is always dependent on its financing and the German Harmonica & Accordion Museum is no exception. Though both Hohner and the town of Trossingen continue to contribute to its upkeep, the purchase of the new premises and their renovation and maintenance would not have been possible without the generous support of the board of trustees and the numerous members of the support association. Many musicians have also been happy to donate their services in support of the museum. Today it offers both a comprehensive documentation of the history of free reed instruments, and an instructive and entertaining view of the people who both made and played them. If you can’t get to the museum you can learn a lot from the videos and books which Martin has researched and written or supported. You can find more about them in the Museum shop.

Martin Häffner has devoted the greater part of his working life to collecting and sharing the history of the harmonica and anyone who has more than a passing interest these instruments has every reason to visit and be grateful. We have been friends for about 20 years and I help at museum when I can.

Martin will retire in 2024 and he will find it hard not to stay close to the museum to help who ever takes over. I am sure, however, that he will probably have even more time for his other passion – enjoying long distance railway journeys.

The Museum charity receives no funding from the State of Baden-Württemberg and so one if the most important activities for Martin and his successor is and will continue to be is fund raising. Martin has established a fantastic resource for lovers of the harmonica and anyone who can should visit it and support it financially.

Additional LInks

Walter Buchinger

Archie Leave a comment

 and the Harmonica Society Laakirchen, Austria

Summary – For over 30 years Walter Buchinger taught harmonica at the Musikschule in Laakirchen, Austria. He took groups of children to perform at festivals and concerts in Europe, Israel and the USA.

Walter was born in 1943 in Laakirchen. He learned to play harmonica and accordion and in 1963/64 he attended a seminar for music teachers in what is now the Hohner Konservatorium, in Trossingen, Germany. In 1973 Walter was teaching accordion in the local music school when he was asked to teach a harmonica course to beginners. He had no experience of teaching harmonica, but with the help of the Austrian Harmonica Association, Helmuth Herold, a professional chromatic player from Trossingen, Germany, agreed to do it. Helmuth taught beginners and advance students twice a year until the early 1990s. When Helmuth was no longer able to do it, Walter took over the classes.

The Landesmusikschule (LMS) was established in 1971. The teaching of harmonica (Mundharmonika) in the school was officially recognised in 1975 and classes started with four pupils. More soon followed. Other teachers wanted to learn to play and soon they had a harmonica group. In 1984 the current music school building was opened.

In 1985, the first school orchestra (Harmonicachoir) was formed. It had 20-25 teenage members and was led by Walter Buchinger and Margareta Rathner. The repertoire included original music for harmonica, classical and well known International popular music.

Soon they were playing concerts away from the school, beginning with one on Austrian TV. Their international appearances started with a harmonica festival in Innsbruck (Austria) in 1986, and in 1987 they performed at the Hohner 130th anniversary festival. Later that year they appeared in the first World Harmonica Championships in Jersey (Channel Islands), organised by Jim Hughes. They won the youth competitions (group and orchestra) and played in the evening concerts. This brought them worldwide recognition.

In 1988 they performed at the festival in Helmond (Holland). In 1989 they held an international festival in Laakirchen and were invited to the first of the new Hohner World Harmonica Festivals in Trossingen, Germany. They continued to take part in this four yearly festival until 2005.

The concerts continued with one in Beer Sheva (Israel) in 1990. In 1991 they released an LP containing pieces of music from their performances called ‘Our Music – Our World‘ (Unsere Musik – Unsere Welt).

1991 also brought the biggest journey for this group of children and adults when they took part in the SPAH/IHO festival in Detroit, (USA) again winning prizes in the solo, group and band categories.

Festivals followed in Portugal (1993), Austria (1994), Trossingen (1993,1996, 2001, 2005), and the IHO Millennium Festival in Bournemouth, UK (2001) where they again won many of the prizes and featured in the concerts.

When pupils left the music school many went on to form their own groups and solo careers.

  • Maria Wolfsberger – World Champion (1991-1993)
  • Trio Mahabri – Maria Wolfsberger, Johann Ortner/Thomas Stockhammer, Brigitte Laska (1989)
  • Mundharmonika Quartett Austria – Gerald Seyr, Hans Ortner, Brigitte Laska/Andrea Fränzel, Thomas Stockhammer
  • Harmonica Quintett Butterfly – Ingrid Schlögel, Lisa Fellinger, Maria Kuales, Joachim Plasser, Georg Kuales
  • Vigorous Quartett/Quintett – Mara Bachlechner, Anna Waldl / Martha Kreutzer, Judith Kreutzer, Marlene Hummelbrunner

Walter stopped teaching at the Music School in 2003 after 30 years in charge.

His last major performance with the harmonica orchestra was at the World Harmonica Festival in Trossingen, Germany, in 2005, where he conducted a group of 60 young and adult harmonica players.

Some harmonica teaching is still going on in the Music School led by Nicola Feichtinger and Olivia Winzer They are good teachers so the golden years may come again – we will see.

Walter is now in his 80s and enjoying his retirement. He continues to play with a group of senior players and has taught himself how to play the Chordomonica which was developed by Cham-ber Huang because of the chords it can play. With a growing family, house and garden he says he is the ‘chief cook and bottle washer‘ – a phrase he learned from his old friend Jim Hughes.

Walter always insists that the orchestra was a group activity with many school staff and parents providing help and support, especially on their many visits to foreign counties. There are far too many people to mention by name but please accept his thanks to all of you that you that contributed.

Here are the tracks from the LP released by Walter in 1991 of the orchestra playing some of their favourite light music and popular pieces.

Here are a couple of videos from the World Harmonica Festival in Jersey (UK) in 1987.

Scherzino
Puppet on a String
The Mundharmonikachor Laakirchen

This is the full performance of the Harmonica Society of Laakirchen, Austria, in the Evening Concert at the IHO Millenium Festival in Bournemouth (UK) in 2000, organised by John Walton.

The orchestra was composed of children from the music school, parents, helpers and teachers from the town.