McHenry Township trustee in harmony with Senior Center, teaching harmonica classes

The jokes flowed like the notes in the air as a group practiced the harmonica Wednesday at McHenry Township Senior Center in Johnsburg.

“Most of us are over 60, we are not going to remember all of that,” John Macrito said after instructor Mark Jaeger asked the class to blow through each of the instrument’s first six holes to get a “clear, single note.”

“You are not going to remember it because you are old,” Bruce Porth threw back.

They were two of about a dozen people who have been meeting weekly since late June, learning how to play the mouth harp while socializing, and getting physical therapy, too.

Learning the harmonica is a great way to also increase lung function, Jaeger said.

After giving private lessons for many years, Jaeger taught his first class at the senior center June 21. He started playing the harmonica at 19 while stationed as a Marine in Hawaii. It was a way to meet girls, he said.

Jaeger, a McHenry Township trustee, started teaching harmonica classes at the senior center as a way to give back to his community.

To play the harmonica well, players need to both blow air into and suck air through it. That makes it an excellent therapy tool for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD.

Jaeger spoke to a distributor he knows and was able to buy 100 harmonicas. He gives one to anyone who attends the class so they can continue to practice at home.

When Kathie Porth went to her first class, she could blow into the instrument for about two seconds before running out of breath. This week, she could play for 10 seconds, running up the length of the harmonica’s 10 holes.

“This is really good for building strength in your lungs. Getting more oxygen is good for your lungs and good for your heart,” Jaeger said.

He had the class run the scales this week, practicing breathing in through their noses and out through their mouths and vice versa while also blowing into and out of the holes.

Jaeger demonstrated how, by moving your jaw up and down in an almost chewing motion, the sounds change. Moving the tongue changes it, too. “It will change the tone of the harmonica ... or if you change the angle” you are holding it at, Jaeger said.

One student asked why they should breath in through the nose. “It is better for your respiratory system,” Jaeger said.

He is not a physical therapist, but has gone to international conventions for harmonica players. That is also where he learned about using the instrument for COPD therapy.

Jaeger was a smoker himself. Playing onstage with bands, he often would play a solo during a song, but that was about all he could do before running out of breath, Jaeger said.

Since he quit smoking and continued to play, he can do two or three full songs in a row.

Playing the harmonica as a form of therapy is a lot more interesting than using the tube he bought at his doctor’s suggestion, Macrito said. “I never used that thing. This makes [therapy] fun.”

That is part of why Jaeger gives each participant their own harmonica – to practice at home, playing along with the radio or YouTube videos. If they search for “backing tracks in G” they are perfect to play along and practice with, Jaeger said.

He played an old episode of the 1970s TV show “Hee Haw” where bandleader Charlie McCoy played the train track sound – what sounds like a train’s wheels rolling on a track – on a harmonica. The class then took turns doing the train whistle sound on their own.

The class could view YouTube videos to learn and practice along, said Lisa Geisler, activity coordinator for the senior center. But then they aren’t getting the socialization that often brings people out. Geisler said the class is open to everyone.

“Keep continuing to play, keep exercising your lungs. It is just like swimming as a young person. If you stop swimming and then leap into the pool. You still know how to swim” but it might take awhile to be strong at it again, Jaeger said.