Man spreads joy of harmonica

When Ronald Butcher arrived in the Flathead Valley in 2008, he began spreading the joy of playing the harmonica to people of all ages.

"If you do it right, it sounds just like a violin," Butcher, 73, told his class last week in the conference room of the Salvation Army. "When you play, it makes everyone so happy."

From 6 years old to middle age, his students listened in admiration as he played tunes ranging from "Oh Susanna" to hymns such as "Sweet Hour of Prayer." Butcher bounces from instructing on scales to playing to storytelling with the joyful spontaneity of one of his ditties.

He recalls that he first picked up a harmonica when he was 10 years old.

"My Uncle Earl Butcher would come in to Salt Lake," he said. "We would sit on the front porch and he would get out his harmonica and play a little ditty."

Inspired by Uncle Earl, he went to a local drug store and bought his first harmonica for about $5. Butcher doesn't exactly recall how long it took him before he became proficient.

"One day it started to come to me and I had all kinds of fun," he said.

While the player may enjoy his own playing, it's what others think that counts. Butcher has a surefire test of whether a player is ready to go perform.

"If you play a song and they say ‘What was that?' Then you're in trouble."

He went public with his playing on a sad occasion in 1989. Butcher said his father died and his sister asked him to play at the funeral.

Stage fright hit him well before the performance.

"I spent three days in the mortuary practicing," he recalled. "My knees started knocking but I learned from it. Now I try to teach people how to play in front of an audience. When you stand up there, don't look at their faces. Look over them."

After that, Butcher learned to love performing, playing at many funerals, weddings and other occasions. He had a steady gig playing at the Bible Baptist Church in Salt Lake City as they passed the collection basket.

He would encourage them to dig deep with favorite hymns such as:

Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.

According to Butcher, knowing the song makes it easy for him to play his repertoire of hundreds of songs since he plays by ear. The more he played his uplifting songs, the more other people wanted to learn.

Butcher, a school bus driver for 30 years, credits a rendition of "Happy Birthday" for jump-starting his teaching career. He was driving the special education students who loved his playing and asked him to play the traditional song for one of the boy's birthdays.

A teacher heard him play and asked him to perform for a class. Word eventually spread to the community education director who asked him to teach harmonica playing as part of the school district's community classes at night.

"I'd played since I was 10 years old but I had never taught," he said.

With trepidation, Butcher agreed then got some books and a friend to help him out. He was shocked when he and his friend got to the school for their first class.

"There were 30 people standing there with harmonicas," he said with a laugh.

From that night, his teaching skill and classes expanded to the point that he was teaching four nights at week at various school districts and universities. He arrives at classes with harmonicas in every key, including sharps and flats as well as an armload of music to display on an overhead projector.

He recommends that people start with an inexpensive instrument.

"A beginning harmonica would be 10 to 12 dollars," he said.

At the Salvation Army class, Butcher started novices by teaching them to correctly hold the harmonica between the thumb and forefinger of their right hand. The left hand forms the sound box to make the "waah-waah" sound.

"The [harmonica] numbers have got to be up," he said. "You can actually play this thing backwards."

Butcher had experienced player Chelcee Bradley demonstrate the familiar ascending scale. He then told the new students to follow suit except using their fingers to cover the holes to make each note.

"That teaches you to blow one hole at a time," he said.

His new students attempt their first scale, blowing through some holes and drawing air through others. Butcher moves from one to another, giving pointers.

"That wasn't too bad," he said at the end. "It was nothing to write home about but it wasn't too bad."

Butcher said harmonica players use one of four styles: chord, whistle, forked tongue or tongue-assisted. He teaches his style of tongue-assisted in which his tongue seals the holes as he blows or draws selected notes.

Students Dan and Dawn Jeude have been attending Butcher's class for about five week. Dan was brushing up his harmonica skills from years ago while Dawn started from scratch.

"I can play ‘When the Saints Come Marching In' almost good," she said.

As the class persists at playing scales, they audibly improve. According to Butcher, persistence pays off.

While some people pick up the harmonica in three days, others take weeks, months or years to sound really good.

He loves to tell the story about the retired 747 pilot who took his class but had a major problem at the end.

"He said ‘My wife won't let me play upstairs and the dog runs away,'" Butcher recalled with a laugh.

He told him to sign up for the next class and promised to give him extra attention after class. The pilot kept after his playing with a good result by the end of the second class.

"He said ‘God bless you, Ron. My wife lets me play upstairs and the dog doesn't run away."

Butcher assures the class that they may become virtuosos as well. He played "Amazing Grace" in the Salvation Army Chapel to demonstrate the impact of playing on a microphone with the blessing of good acoustics.

"You can get so good on this thing that you could probably play for Oprah," he said with a smile. "I'd love to play for Oprah someday."

People interested in hearing Butcher play "Wooden Heart" or Gen. Custer's favorite "Garryowen" may go to www.deerlakevideo.com. People interested in harmonica lessons may call Butcher at 871-9599.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.