Isabella Krapf Interview

By Sam Spranger, Ambassador

When her school teacher told her that no-one could make a living playing the harmonica, Isabella Krapf, then eight years old, knew what career she was destined to pursue. Sure enough, she is now renowned as a master player, a teacher with two students that have won world titles, and as a collector, archivist, and technician with an expansive knowledge on the history and mechanics of the instrument.

What are you busy with nowadays?

It’s been difficult over the pandemic. Recently, however, a nurse asked me to help patients cope with long covid, so I have a new project working with them and using the harmonica to support proper breathing. I have previously worked with people with asthma and other problems too. I never like thinking about the harmonica in terms of “blow/draw/suck/blow”; first and foremost it is a breathing instrument that connects the whole of the body. Amazing! A lot of people from HarmonicaUK’s outreach team are going to want to talk to you! Walk me through your career as a player and a teacher. I got my first harmonica at the age of 8. I’m from a musical family and my parents wanted me to be a classical pianist so I was studying hard at music. Now I play many instruments, such as

Isabella and her guitarist, Károly

the trumpet, piano, singing, percussion etc., but the harmonica, however, came naturally to me and it’s such a niche instrument. When I was 18 I began teaching harmonica at an adult education centre and found a huge audience for my lessons. On the same day I got a call to play in a Gershwin concert at the largest concert hall in Vienna! I knew I was doing something right. In terms of my teachers I have had some awful teachers and some wonderful teachers. In the classical field I had some teachers that were so narrow minded and rigid in their practice. In my own teaching, I really believe every student must be treated as an individual. The important thing for me as a teacher is to find the individual’s learning styles and tailor my approach accordingly. Even in group classes I never teach more than 12 at a time to ensure that no one is overlooked.

One of the highlights of my career and my learning was meeting Jerry Adler (Larry Adler’s younger brother) when he was 87. I flew to Milwaukee to meet him and he told me endless stories about his Hollywood days with the likes of Marlene Dietrich and the Marx Brothers etc.. and he would give me personal concerts on the chromatic. Our friendship was very special and he gave me many things for my collection. I was thrilled to later play a concert dedicated to him in Chicago. Another highlight for me is my time teaching in North Korea. I was there four times between 2011 and 2013. We played all sorts of music and everyone practised like mad. It’s one of the rare times that I have worked with such a large number of musicians that were all absolutely dedicated to mastering the instrument. Of course players like Franz Chmel were able to dedicate their lives to the instrument once they were retired, but it’s rare that so many people can dedicate themselves to music and not have to worry about job/family/life commitments.

I also arranged some concerts for the magnificent Pablo

Fegundas in Graz, Austria, and he returned the honour by inviting us to play in Brazil! I’ve been very lucky to have played in so many places, from Germany, to Morocco, to the States. Wherever you go people are still shocked when they see a real harmonica player. Mainstream appreciation still has a long way to go!

And tell us about your work as a historian and archivist for the harmonica.

It started when I was 27 and was looking for a location for a small concert so I went to a museum and they asked me if I would like to run an exhibition instead. From there I started expanding my collection and was honoured to be the youngest person to ever exhibit at the museum. During the exhibition

people would actually give me harmonicas so my collection grew! We also had the historian and collector Martin Haeffner talk on pre-war harmonicas. From there I started collecting things from Klingenthal like patent letters from Seydel and other companies, even the Spranger company! I have harmonicas on loan to several museums at the moment including the technical museum. Throughout the instrument's history, there have always been so many experiments in tunings and designs for the harmonica. With Suzuki, Seydel, and Hohner as well as individual builders competing in the market, there is such healthy competition for innovation on the instrument. Maintenance is important though. As a technician I often get sent very old instruments for repair and I have to tell people old harmonicas are not the same as a Stradivarius! Modern instruments perform so much better and last so that a player can grow with their instrument.

What are you looking forward to?

Well I’m doing a lot of teaching at the moment which is very rewarding. I would also love to go back to Korea and see how the players are. Post-pandemic, a lot of venues are no longer running music and those that do are finding themselves at about half capacity. There is an almost hesitation and avoidance in the public about live music. I would like to do something to help the music industry and try to get live music back again. For more on Isabella visit her website here: www.isabellakrapf.com/

Isabella and her guitarist, Károly