28-Day Challenge
I’m putting myself out there and telling you guys that I am participating in a 28-day challenge throughout February. Don’t get to feeling all special because I’m sharing this with you. I’d rather do this in secret and keep it to myself. I’m only telling you because Tomlin told me to do something called social accountability. A fancy name for what we used to call putting your business out in the street. The challenge that I am doing is the ‘28-day Harmonica Practice Challenge.’ And who is Tomlin? I’ll get to him in a bit.
First, some background: Introduced to the harmonica at a party when I was 19 years old, I thought it was the coolest instrument ever. (Grandchildren stop counting on your fingers and toes, that was 48 years ago!) All I wanted to do on that tiny device was to learn to play the meatball song aka ‘On Top of Spaghetti.’ Not having the know-how, gumption, or the confidence to approach a musician for help, I put that thought aside. Over the years I would gift people harmonicas. It was on one of those occasions while buying harmonicas for my World Vision children that I decided to buy one for me too. I bought instruction books and tapes and attempted to learn. I didn’t make much progress and was always frustrated. It was hard, not fun, and I sounded like a dying duck. I needed something more to get there and again, put the harmonica aside.
Not long ago, the strangest thing started to happen. While listening to music I would imagine myself accompanying the song on a harmonica. In my mind, I was jamming and sounding pretty good! This happened so often I looked for harmonica covers of my favorite songs. I also checked YouTube for lessons. This time around I knew what I required to ensure my success. After learning to swim (see my blog post ‘65 Learning to Swim’) I knew in order to excel in an area I needed a coach, a curriculum, and a community and that is exactly what I found via YouTube.
Now back to Tomlin. There were several ‘how-to’ videos I liked on YouTube but I kept coming back to one in particular and that was Tomlin Leckie’s Channel. I watched his videos and checked out his School, TomlinHarmonicaSchool.com. I was surprised his monthly costs were less than one private music lesson elsewhere. I emailed questions and this young man in Scotland quickly responded. It was his video “Too OLD to learn Harmonica” that convinced me Tomlin was the teacher for me.
I signed up for the ‘28-day Harmonica Practice Challenge’ so that I could start with good habits. I also signed up to become a Harmonica School student. In return, I have gained a coach, a curriculum, and a community. What’s uncanny is Coach Tomlin seems to sense what’s going on with me. At random times, he will send me an email addressing something that I’d been wondering about or struggling with. The curriculum is a clear written path that takes me from where I am now to where I am capable of being if I commit to the lessons and practice. Best of all it is fun, challenging, and not frustrating. The school’s community is friendly and supportive. It is made up of people of all ages, backgrounds, and locations across the world, each with love of the harmonica in common. Tomlin clearly explains everything but, in my excitement, I failed to go over his ‘how to use the forum’ instructions and was posting who knows where. I was greeted with a post from Chris in New Zealand kindly explaining how to post correctly. I have been welcomed by many into the school and I’m encouraged when I listen to posts of my classmates playing. As I listen to their progress, I know in time I will get there too.
As I write this, I’m on Day-6 of the practice challenge. I am playing the Beginner Riff and in this short time, I am seeing great results. Initially, I struggled to play from chords to single notes at a decent speed but now I’m getting it. Lessons are also going well; my Train Rhythm is getting better each time I play it. Now I just need to post my playing and get Tomlin’s feedback.
I chuckle to myself when I think all of this because of a meatball! Today, my harmonica goals extend way beyond just being able to play “On Top of Spaghetti” like I wanted to 48 years ago. This time, I’m off to a great start!
I’ll keep y’all posted.
Amanda
(If anyone is doing a CHALLENGE this month please share in the comments. If you are interested in harmonica lessons check out TomlinHarmonicaSchool.com.)
