TCH News

Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: News

Playing the harmonica is "like playing by yourself on a football field," according to Grammy winning musician Howard Levy. "You can run anywhere you want. There's no one to tackle you except yourself."

While Levy wasn't actually on a football field, he recently did lots of thrilling runs at SCCC's Sussex Bank Theater.

Howard Levy is a world renowned harmonica player. He has appeared on over 100 albums, has won a Grammy, and wrote the first concerto for diatonic harmonica.

On Friday April 11, Levy casually strolled onto the stage of the Sussex Bank Theater to roaring applause. As the applause died down, an awkward silence fell over the room. Then, out of nowhere, a flurry of notes exploded from what one could only guess was a harmonica.

The instrument sounded so far from any notion of what harmonica playing is portrayed as that it was hard to recognize it at all. By no means is that a bad thing.

Sounding at times almost like a violin, it was quickly apparent why Levy is so celebrated. Levy fluently jumped from jazz to blues and even classical without so much as flinching.

Levy is even able to jump across instruments. Holding his trusty harmonica in one hand he played the bass line on his keyboard without even breaking a sweat.

As the first composition drew to a close one couldn't help but wonder how the crowd would react. Levy's playing seemed unfamiliar and chaotic but awe-inspiring and beautiful all at the time. The uneasiness passed as the audience resounded accordingly with boisterous applause.

"I think it's great that the college is putting on shows with such great performers," said Marisa Marquez, an SCCC student. "I only wish all the seats were filled!"

The only flaw in Levy's performance was not through any fault of his own. A quick look around the half filled theater overwhelmed one with a sense that his peers were missing out on a prime opportunity. Another glance revealed only a handful of students in the crowd.

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