Meet the Blog Author

My name is Keith Mitchell and I live in Round Rock, Texas near Austin. I have playing diatonic harmonica since high school soon after hearing Charlie McCoy play Shenandoah.  I got to tell Charlie that face to face at a recent SPAH conference.  I have been active in attending SPAH contributing by acting as an event photographer and sometimes managing the Gospel Harmonica jam sessions. 

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My first formal training was many years later in a short course at the University of Texas lead by JP Allen and the following year by Michael Rubin.  Initially, I focused on blues and made large advancement by participating in David Barrett's  workshops and eventually on his online curriculum at Bluesharmonica.com. 

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Other than being a high school snare drummer, I have no training in reading music notation.  

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After attending a Buddy Greene SPAH workshop on Gospel Harmonica playing, I found a core group of people and established a Facebook Group called The Gospel Harmonica Community which now has almost 900 members. I made it clear I was playing host not because I was an accomplished player but rather because I was experienced at creating online communities. 

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My careers have included class room science teacher, education technology specialist for the Texas Education Agency, 18 years with Apple computer working with educators, and five years in the college of education at the University of Texas. I have been retired for ten years working in my spare time as a professional portrait photographer.  My PhD is in education technology.

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