Returning to the original time frame in the autumn school holidays, the 16th Harmonica Masters Workshops are scheduled to run from Wednesday October 30th to Sunday November 3rd 2024. The local organization will once again be handled by the Hohner Conservatory and the event is sponsored by Hohner Musical Instruments. We have now finalized the line-up and are glad to announce another great team of instructors dedicated to sharing their knowledge and skills with you!

Alongside our ever popular workshop on traditional blues harmonica with the great Joe Filisko, who will disseminate his unique analysis of classic blues styles and stylists, we are happy to welcome back the remarkable bluesman, singer, harmonica artist and teacher Bonny B. (Cambodia/Switzerland) to present his class on blues and gospel harmonica & vocals. Bonny’s first workshop with us in 2023 was a great hands-on experience which drew an increasing number of students from other classes over the course of the event and his class is highly recommended for players of all skill levels! We are also pleased to announce the return of Germany’s leading harmonica educator and organizer of the FEN Harmonica Festival in Berlin, Marko Jovanovic, who will be joining us again with his popular Pure Harmonica Training workshop. Following the success of his first class with us in 2023, we have invited Chris Kramer back to teach our weekend beginners workshop on the Friday and Saturday in 2024.

Always on the lookout for fresh impulses, we have engaged two great new teachers who will be joining us for the first time in 2024. Long Ti Tian came from China in 2011 to study chromatic harmonica at the Hohner Conservatory before graduating as a BA in Performance Studies at the Jazz and Rock School in Freiburg. He currently performs with renowned Brazilian jazz guitarist Fabio Gouvea and will be teaching a highly accessible class on jazz chromatic at the HMW 2024. And last but not least, in response to requests from students for a workshop on rack harmonica for guitarists, we are happy to welcome internationally renowned British blues artist Eddie Martin to teach it. Eddie is a true master on both instruments and also a great educator, able to communicate both his passion for the music and the skills needed to play it.

We will also offer three short special workshops during the lunch breaks on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Mattias Bogefors will give a practical introduction to his method for using the harmonica therapeutically; George Reijnders and Arie-Jan Folkers (Marble Amps) will once again present their joint workshop on amplified harp; and Chris Kramer will introduce a great new tuning specially designed to make playing in minor keys easy, intuitive and fun.

The website has been updated and we are now accepting registrations for the 16th Harmonica Masters Workshops. We look forward to welcoming you to Trossingen in autumn 2024!

Steve Baker  -  Festival Director

Eric Dann  -  Director, Hohner Conservatory