'It's Almost Like A Dying Art:' Harmonica Club Prepares For Holiday Concert

MASSAPEQUA, NY. — John Devine was 17-years-old when he first picked up a harmonica. Nearly 60 years later, the Garrison Beach, Brooklyn native and president of the Long Island Harmonica Club will join the club in its holiday concert at the Massapequa Public Library on Sunday, Dec. 21 at 1 p.m.

It was 1966 when Devine was given his first harmonica; the young Devine was inspired by the music of Bob Dylan, who his father hated and his mother enjoyed. On one occasion, Devine even quoted his father saying, ‘There's a diamond in that needle, you're not going to waste it on that stuff,’ when Devine was listening to Dylan’s song, “Maggie’s Farm.”

Devine played the harmonica until he graduated high school, at which point he spent the summer lifeguarding in his native Brooklyn before shipping out to Paris Island, SC., and then to Vietnam with the U.S. Marine Corps.

Devine was injured during his time in the Marines, spending about a year hospitalized before returning to civilian life. When he did, he worked as a phone operator for his local police department, then went to St. John’s University in Queens and became an insurance salesman. It wasn’t until about 20 years ago, almost 40 years after receiving his first harmonica, that Devine returned to the instrument.

“I still have a couple of those original harmonicas and a couple of the books…About 20 years ago, I happened to be shopping, at this time of the year, and I saw last minute stocking suffers, and I looked on all these items that they were selling and some store and I said, ‘You know what? Let me give this a try again,’” Devine said.

From there, Devine started trying to learn the harmonica, searching in earnest for harmonica lessons at music stores, scouring the earliest forms of YouTube for demonstrations, but never quite finding the right education.

“You can learn the oboe before you can learn how to play the harmonica,” Devine said with a laugh.

And then Devine found the Long Island Harmonica Club.

“There were really great harmonica players; there were actual musicians, they could read music for the most part, and they were playing in the styles of the '40s and '50s, those traditional sing-along songs, and stuff like that,” Devine said. “They shunned blues, they also shunned what's called a diatonic harmonica. That's the standard blues harmonica, it's a ten-hole harmonica, they preferred playing what they call Chromatic harmonica, which is usually 12 holes and it has a button on the side that indicates if you’re playing a sharp or a flat. And I was open to all this stuff, so I did whatever they told me…I was three, four times a month going from church to church, senior centers, veterans' halls, and they were well received, they were great. They were entertaining.”

Today, Devine said the Harmonica Club features both kinds of harmonica among roughly 25 members. Devine himself is proficient in both diatonic and chromatic harmonica, and both styles will be on display at the holiday concert.

As the years continued, and members moved or passed away, Devine went on to become the president of the harmonica club. While he said some members no longer live on Long Island, or spend much of the year in warmer climates, Devine said the club’s membership is still holding strong. At the library holiday concert, Devine said he expects about 15 players to attend.

As for the musical selections, Devine said the holiday concert will feature, “The standard Christmas classics. There’s one fellow who likes to play what I would call, ‘cowboy songs,’ so he'll play a couple of those. And I think he's even going to get a little theatrical and dress up for the part. Cowboy boots and all that stuff. He's just a guy that has been coming around. He really enjoys it. I have to admit, he's learned how to play several cowboy songs. One of our other guys, who plays the guitar as well, will probably accompany him. We call it ‘Harmonica Club And Friends’…I think there'll be a medley of, say, half a dozen holiday songs, and the crowd would probably sing along with them because they're like ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘White Christmas,’ things like that.”

As for what he hopes people see when they attend the holiday concert, Devine said he hopes some of them feel the spark he felt when he was walking around the stocking stuffer section 20 years ago.

“Maybe they get interested in learning how to play. It's almost like a dying art, in a sense,” Devine said.

The concert will take place in the Massapequa Public Library Auditorium, running from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Dec. 21. Registration for the event is free, and can be done online.