[February 04, 2010] Seasoned musician masters harmonica Tweet Feb 04, 2010 (The Ottawa Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Michael Fowler was getting bored during his everyday commute from Ottawa to Lawrence. After all, it was half an hour each way to his work. So, with his musical background, he decided to learn the harmonica -- in the car while driving. "I was playing 30 minutes twice a day, but I didn't like the sound of the acoustic harmonic," Fowler said. So he attached a microphone to it and used earphones to act as an amplifier while driving in the car and played with the songs on the radio. He even got pulled over once while wearing headphones. "I didn't get a ticket," Fowler said. "I guess at that point it was against the law to have headphones in the car." He did that for 11 years while he worked at a mental health facility in Lawrence. "When I stopped commuting to Lawrence and was working in Ottawa, the first couple months I had to leave for work early and go drive around because I wasn't used to sitting still while practicing," Fowler said. "I had to practice in the car." He never took any lessons for that instrument. "I applied the principles of how to play the trumpet to the harmonica," Fowler said. "So I practiced every day, and it was kind of inadvertent." A musical start A New Jersey native, Fowler, 72, started playing brass instruments, primarily the trumpet, when he was a child. "I started in the fourth grade," Fowler said. "I wanted to be in the band, and they said, 'Here kid. Play this,' and it was an alto horn, so I played that for a year and then my parents bought me a student trumpet for about $75." With a family full of musicians, Fowler had no trouble picking it up. His mother played the piano, his grandmother played the violin and his father enjoyed music but didn't play much, Fowler said. "I remember one time I was about 9," Fowler said. "I had chicken pox and a fever, and I woke up that afternoon and just was blown away. There was Dixieland music on the radio. I had never heard that before." He played through high school and college, forming various dance bands and playing at local events and high school proms for extra money. He attended Indiana University in pursuit of an English literature degree but later changed it to psychology. During that time, he tried his hand at classical guitar for a few years but couldn't connect with the instrument. "I just couldn't get my hands to work independently," Fowler said. "I'm more of a mouth musician, I think." Playing on the streets When he started playing the harmonica, he picked up various gigs in local bands and clubs. Some of his favorite memories, he said, are from playing on the streets of Lawrence and Kansas City. "It was really fun," Fowler said. "Somebody would come up to you who'd just finished eating greasy noodles out of a Chinese take-out container and say, 'I want to shake your hand.'" Fowler said for his first street performance, he made $60 in two hours. But it's not that much anymore, he said. "Now the novelty has worn off for the people of Lawrence," Fowler said. "I was one of the first street performers there, and now there's so many of them." But he still loves playing his "harps." When he plays on the street, he usually takes his old, beat-up alto saxophone case with a notes chart scrawled on legal pad paper, taped to the inside. Couple that with his neon tape-decorated "street amp" and about 12 to 15 harmonicas, and he's ready to perform. "The harmonica is for color and feel and seasoning," Fowler said. "I find each different key of harp lends itself to a different kind of music." He's attempted to teach music but the process is much more lengthy than most people prepare for, he said. "It's difficult because they have high expectations, and they're not willing to accept what they do at any one point as pretty good, you know," Fowler said. "You have to enjoy the process of playing -- not just the result." Retirement Now, Fowler is retired and plays in church. He has two sons, Andy and Owen, who both were involved with music at one time, and two grandchildren. "Retirement was hard for me at first," Fowler said. "I didn't know what to do when I retired, besides housework, which I do a little of but not enough of." But he's adjusted since then. He cooks a lot, reads difficult books, visits the library for socialization and he still plays his harmonica on the streets of Lawrence a few times each summer. "My first goal was to play outside Ottawa, and I did that," he said. "Then my goal was to play in Lawrence, and I did that, and then play in Kansas City, which I've done, and that's probably it. I'm less hungry now, at 72. I'm not so hot to go prove myself anymore." ------ To see more of The Ottawa Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ottawaherald.com Copyright (c) 2010, The Ottawa Herald, Kan. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]