Tricycle | Awake in the World

Teaching a group of nonmusicians to play blues, rock, and classical music on the harmonica might seem an impossible day’s work, but David Harp, author of Instant Blues Harmonica and The Three-Minute Meditator uses the humble “Mississippi Saxophone” as a route to mindfulness rather than as an end, however pleasurable in itself. After all, what better way to focus on the breath, Vipassana-style, than through the inhalations and exhalations of a catchy blues/rock rhythm?

By the end of this inspirational and transformative workshop, you’ll be playing Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, Delta blues, Pachelbel’s Canon, and rock ’n’ roll. More important, you’ll learn a set of meditational tools that can be used anywhere, anytime, with or without a harmonica.

From the New York Open Center course catalog, June 2000.