As a fourth generation family business , all of us at Merrill Gardens know the importance of staying connected . It ’ s what helps our residents feel more at home .

You can see it in the people we hire . You can see it in the communities we create . You can see it in the ways we connect with your family .

Call today to schedule your personal visit .

( 408 ) 338-0427 7600 Isabella Way Gilroy , CA 95020

Lic # 435202344

Senior Living • merrillgardens . com

After stints playing the saxophone and trumpet in his younger years , harmonica presented a greater variety of sounds , and he especially loved the versatility of what he described as little more than a couple of reeds fixed between two metal plates . “ It ’ s the instrument which has such a variety of ways you can present one note , unlike any other instrument out there ,” he said . Unfortunately , there weren ’ t any harmonica-trained teachers around who could instruct him in what he wanted to learn . He embarked upon two years of teaching himself what he could with limited resources , and by age sixteen was playing at a few local clubs .

“ JJ ’ s Blues [ in San José ] was the big blues club at the time ,” he said . He won free tickets to a blues festival held there and recalled the impact of hearing live blues harmonica for the first time , played by a local great named Gary Smith whom Barrett called “ one of our legendary players in blues .” Utterly captivated , he knew he ’ d found his music teacher , if only he could convince Smith to teach him . “ I noticed [ the musicians ] were all going out for fried chicken afterwards , so my goal was to plant myself next to that gate and ask him to give me lessons .”

Smith was reluctant to teach him , but , said Barrett , “ I begged and pleaded and he finally said yes .”

Less than ten lessons later , Barrett said , “ And like a stupid teenager I felt like I learned all I could . Then I continued the journey on my own .” However , he and Smith have continued to collaborate over the past 27 years in numerous ways . Smith helped Barrett book local gigs and arrange jam sessions and has remained a close friend .

Not two years after that , budding harmonica players began to approach Barrett , only eighteen himself , to teach them . “ I had no idea how to teach , but they said it didn ’ t matter ,” he remembered with a chuckle .

He assumed teaching would be a great way to pay for college without any more of the “ menial ditch digging type jobs ,” he was accustomed to . Moreover , teaching others felt like paying forward what he ’ d learned from Smith . “ Some of the techniques Gary had shown me I wouldn ’ t have figured out on my own or it would have taken a long time .”

He soon built up a stable of private clients and worked part time at music stores , including the former Music Tree in downtown Morgan Hill , which he managed for six years , from 1994 to 2000 . Management taught him a lot about the music business , and led him to start teaching local harmonica workshops to fill a growing demand for lessons .

In the process he realized the incredible lack of teaching materials for harmonica on the market . He partly attributed this lack to the fact that “ Blues harmonica has always been an oral tradition : you listen , copy , and try to use it and nothing has been written for that ,” he said , but he saw an opportunity . He turned a workshop he spent a year teaching into a book called Building Harmonica Technique that went on to be published by known music publisher , Mel Bay Publications . It would be the first of over 70 books , CDs and DVDs on blues harmonica that he has written or produced , a niche that he can comfortably claim for himself .

46

GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN MARCH / APRIL 2017 gmhtoday . com