Live Classes are now ONLINE. They are still FREE.
Starting April 5, 2021. Classes are led by respiratory therapist Larry Vesely, RRT, on Zoom. Beginners' classes are the first Monday of each month, and Intermediate classes are the 2nd and 4th Mondays of the month. Click here for CLASS DETAILS and HOW TO REGISTER.
Do daily respiratory therapy and breathing exercises the fun way!
Now anyone can do the program at home using our videos! You'll need an inexpensive 10-hole diatonic harmonica in C. You can usually find them for less than $10 in music stores, online, even at Cracker Barrel.
Download a PDF of the book and follow along with the videos, or purchase printed books for therapy groups. Download or purchase the accompanying book, Harmonicas for Health: A Guide to Breathing Better.
If you have problems viewing any of the videos on this page, you can also find them on the Harmonicas for Health YouTube Channel.
Harmonicas for Health series (4 parts)
Part 1: Introduction. Larry and Mary Jane introduce the Harmonicas for Health program and how it came about, talk about why we can breathe better, and why harmonicas are used in their program.
Part 2: Harmonica Basics. Larry and Mary Jane introduce harmonica care, teach some breathing exercises for respiratory therapy, and offer some additional resources for learning.
Part 3: Simple Notes. Larry and Mary Jane teach single-note playing, "the train" breathing exercise, how to slide across several notes, and lead a session of therapeutic breathing exercises.
Part 4: Simple Songs. In this video, Larry and Mary Jane introduce harmonica notation and several simple songs. This video is for those wanting to do more with the harmonica beyond the respiratory therapy breathing exercises introduced earlier in the program.
More videos for your learning and enjoyment
September 4, 2015. Mary Jane plays a harmonica duet with Mikea the elephant.
Aug 14, 2014. Mary Jane Gormley was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in 2005. She uses the harmonica daily as part of her breathing treatments. Video by Christina Fletes. See article by Blythe Bernhard of the St. Louis Dispatch.
Feb. 26, 2013. Two-time Mayo Clinic lung transplant recipient, Larry Rawdon, shares the power of music in his harmonica class with the Jacksonville Heart and Lung Transplant Support Group at Mayo Clinic in Florida. (Source: Mayo Clinic on YouTube.)
This video is a snippet from an introductory video produced by Dr. Henry T. Bahnson, MD, former Chief of Surgery at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who was an avid harmonica player. In 1990 he was inspired to begin a series of experiments, with his collaborator Jim Antaki, PhD, to study the "Physiology and Phoenetics of Playing the Harmonica."
May 1, 2012. When the elephant keepers at the Smithsonian's National Zoo hear the sound of a harmonica, it's not the radio they've left on. Instead, it's the Zoo's 36-year-old Asian elephant, Shanthi, who, unsolicited, has a propensity for coming up with her own ditties using whatever instruments the keepers have provided.