Elisabeth Neuffer - L10
A big congratulations to Elisabeth Neuffer in Hattenhofen, Germany for completing Levels of Achievement Level 10 Testing at BluesHarmonica.com. You can see his performance of original instrumentals here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF-FUHHWu4w&t=42s
Here is her story...
The process
I met the harmonica first when I was about fifty years old and was fascinated by the great
sound of this tiny little instrument. During my school years I had learned playing the piano
which gave me the basics of music theory. My piano education was invariably formed
classical. Of course I wasn‘t allowed to play "modern music" (although it was
the 60's). Therefore, I was a hard working pupil and didn't learn to play free.
I grew up with the music of the Beatles and Stones and in my family we often sang and made
music together.
When I started playing the harmonica about 15 years ago I enjoyed playing the music I
liked, as well as playing without notation. At that time, I made my first experience of
accompaniment in our family-band "drops of blue."
Before finally subscribing to bluesharmonica.com I had only learned the puckering style.
But when I listened to the great harmonica players it made me curious how they play this
grand sound. It was quite plain to me: This is what I would like to learn!
In 2014 I visited a Master-Workshop with David in Trossingen. I realized that his teaching
method connected with pedagogical competence and was exactly what I needed. In this
workshop I heard about bluesharmonica.com. Back home I tried a free lesson.
The program overwhelmed me at that time and I thought tongue block bending
would be too difficult for me. It took one more year until I started LOA (Levels of Achievement Program).
With a little help from my husband and musical partner I mastered the technical difficulties. So I
enjoyed working in the lessons every day.
The first three lessons rushed by. To learn tongue blocking was really a challenge and
sometimes I got impatient with myself. But David‘s education plans, his direct and logical
way of study "step by step“ and his encouraged feedback helped me to get my playing
more and more structured. I learned not only new technique, but got a deeper
understanding of blues as well. I loved playing the fantastic study songs and practiced scales and
solo-patterns. I also learned to enjoy my own playing concerning sound and volume.
My enthusiasm for playing blues harmonica grew larger. Never in my life have I done such a
concentrated study. I worked daily on the website for some hours in the morning and for
some hours in the evening (as a pensionary I was free to do so). Another advantage was
that I had the wonderful assistance of my husband – he accompanied me on the guitar whenever I
liked. When I had problems in understanding it was helpful to take part in Ryan Walker‘s
lessons. I tried to practice like he did.
After reaching level 7 I attended another Master-Workshop in Trossingen and became very
inspired, mainly concerning position-playing.
Preparing for the concert during the last six months pushed my efforts. As I never had
written any songs before... I was surprised that it wasn‘t so hard to do (as I was
well prepared by the previous lessons).
During my journey through the LOAs I moved from being a pucker-player to a tongue-blocker
which gives me the possibility to play single notes as well as chords and to create more
effects. In summary I learned a lot on bluesharmonica.com – more than I had ever
dreamed.
Teaching children during my professional life I had emphasized that they get a wide variety of learning
experiences, which enables pupils to learn with pleasure. David‘s method at
bluesharmonica.com enabled me as a student to learn with the same pleasure.
