Harmonica Convergence

He's been carrying one around for years.

"No matter where I was, I had a harmonica in my pocket," Bill Romel, a local retiree and internationally known master harmonica repairman, says.

From a kitchen in his father's restaurant to the war fields of Korea, Romel has had a harmonica close by to serve as a soulful friend.

"I could take the harmonica out and it would comfort me. This is what many harmonica players will tell you," he says. "It's always been a source of comfort, something in the sounds."

In a small section of the three-car garage at his Northwest valley home, Romel invents techniques in harmonica repair to improve on that sound and puts his personal mark of craftsmanship of these mass-produced musical instruments.

"Harmonica has a kind of subculture," he says, gesturing with a harmonica reed plate -- which holds the reeds that determine the instrument's sound -- in his thick hands. "About three million Americans play harmonica as a hobby, among that three million, there is an upper echelon that want to improve their harmonica."

Such harmonica greats as Eddy Laurence Manson and Robert Bonfigllio, jazz and classical musicians, respectively, have turned to Romel to improve their instrument. Romel says that although the names may be unfamiliar, many have probably heard the artists on classical music radio stations.

"You hear harmonicas in commercials, in the background (of television shows), a lot of places," says Jack Ely, retired computer programmer for the Ohio Department of Education and a fan of Romel's custom work. "A lot of people just hear a sound they like, they don't think about it, but to us harmonica nuts, our ears perk up."

Romel says: "Harmonicas are probably the most personal muscial instrument there is, because everyone who plays one can inject their own personality into it. When you hear a harmonica being played by an individual, you are really listening to that individual."

Michael Polesky, treasurer of the Los Angeles Regional Harmonica Association and a private music instructor, says of Romel: "He can take a factory-produced instrument and simply modify it and increase the reliability, sound and function to a professional level with his particular talent of making the most aesthetic instrument you have ever seen."

Harmonica enthusiasts around the country sing Romel's praises, saying a factory cannot produce the individual sound that makes harmonicas special to the owner.

"I can put one of his harmonicas in my pocket and go to a show and know it won't let me down," Polesky, who previously played professionally, says.

Why isn't this inexpensive, yet complex, musical instrument more popular?

"The fact that the American school system doesn't put harmonica in its music program makes it less mainstream," says Geoffrey Scott, manager of The Music Company in Wayne, N.J., which sells musical instruments and repair manuals on the Internet.

He paints a mental picture of children walking to school, lugging expensive and heavy reed instruments -- such as the clarinet or saxophone -- when they could slip a 10-reed harmonica into their pockets and learn the concepts of tone and music style.

"It's the type of (instrument) where you could put music right into your hands or mouth, so to speak," he says.

But, Polesky reminds, "Like a piano, the harmonica needs tuning."

Romel to the rescue!

"Someone like Bill, who is a master repairman, can make a harmonica play like a dream," Ely says. "Bill is innovative. He also beautifies his harmonicas by using exotic woods, gold plating for looks and function."

Ask Romel if he is changing the sound of music and, well, he just shakes his head and says he's merely helping others who love the many tones of the harmonica enjoy their craft more.

It begins

Romel peeled potatoes and bused tables in his father's upstate New York restaurant to earn money to buy his first harmonica.

"My dad didn't give anything away. If you wanted something, you worked for it," Romel says.

It was the beginning of World War II, so his foray into music had to be cheap and easy to carry.

"I had heard Larry Adler (a classic harmonica player) when I was a boy on a record and I thought, 'This is wonderful,' " he says. "It was an inexpensive instrument, so I bought one as soon as I could afford it."

His first harmonica was a standard shiny, five-inch Marine Band-style model, and Romel, while hanging around with the neighborhood kids, found he could play anything on the 10-holed mouth organ.

"I was kind of shy and backward, it was a really good attention-getter," he says, laughing. "I have to admit, I could play pretty well -- any song that you could sing, I could play."

The harmonica bridged any social ineptness Romel may have felt, and the portability, as well as popularity at the time, gave him a feeling of acceptance and happiness.

"It was always there," he says.

In the early '50s, he joined the army and fought in the Korean War. He carried his backpack, his weapon -- and his harmonica.

"I would pull it out and play it," Romel says. "I've never been a very aggressive, outgoing individual. I'm very shy, so it was a companion I could depend on if I was feeling lonely.

When Romel returned to the United States, though, the harmonica was lost in the shuffle of his life.

A lull

"I decided I had to do something with my life, you have to make certain decisions in your life," he says.

"I was always discouraged by my father. He said, 'You don't want to be a musician, don't go into show business.' I really wanted to, but I guess we are all subject to our genes, and my genes told me that's not a very practical way to make a living."

Instead, he focused his energies on a career in medicine. He moved his young family to Las Vegas in 1956 and worked at Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital, now the University Medical Center, and went on to supervise the North Las Vegas Hospital's clinical laboratory for 15 years.

"I was so intent on a career in medicine and raising a family ... I kind of layed the harmonica down. I got married, had children and it kind of sat in the closet for about 25 years."

His career "totally devoured" his free time and "everything else went by the wayside. I don't even think my kids knew I could play the harmonica."

In 1975, Romel had a life shake-up: His kids were grown, and he and his wife of nearly 20 years decided to split.

"I was alone and I thought, 'I wonder if I can still play harmonica,' " he says.

Play he could. But he took a good look at his old harmonica -- and then took it apart.

Reunited

"I started tinkering with my own harmonica to make it play better, and it got more involved and more involved and the next thing you know, I've got all these theories in my head."

The standard harmonica has nine "layers" of plates that comprise the instrument, with the comb acting as the middle.

"The biggest problem is air escaping," Romel says of playing the harmonica. He reduces the layers of the mouthpieces of some harmonicas from five to three. "Less layers, less air escapes."

But it's not just the instrument that makes harmonica music so appealing, he says.

"Harmonica, mechanically, can be taught to anyone, but to develop the technique is nothing but practice."

And physiology.

"The size of your throat cavity, how you are able to manipulate your tongue, all these things are important (to the sound)," he says.

As is mastering tone, which Romel says is "the most difficult (part of playing) the harmonica. Each reed on a harmonica is an individual instrument by itself," he says.

His excitement growing, Romel shares his theories on how to improve the instrument's body and, therefore, its sound and function, with fellow harmonica buffs at concerts and conventions.

"I started doing this for myself, and then people started asking if I could do this or that for them," he said.

In Romel's 10- by 10-foot workshop, finished silken wood and polished silver harmonicas gleam atop their velvet pouches, next to half- finished Lucite combs Romel has created to replace brass and wood standards.

"Brass gets tarnished and can change the sound because of the moisture," Romel says, holding a green tinged plate from a harmonica he is working on.

"Its a very creative area," he explains, turning the plate in the light, his thoughts ticking away. "I look at the harmonica as an artisitc way of expressing myself, something I was never able to show in my (medical) career."

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