| Bernie Bray Harmonica Player Of The Year Award |
 |
 |
 |
|
by Danny Wilson Each year the members of SPAH nominate their choices for harmoncia player of the year and the board of directors selects the recipient of the Bernie Bray Award. The nomination form is available in the convention packet. Only one nomination per member allowed. The Bernie Bray Award will be presented in Sacramento, California at SPAH's annual convention during the banquet on August 15, 2009. Sign up for the convention on-line or by downloading the convention packett and mailing your registration. Who Was Bernie Bray?He was a family man, a lover of life and living. Bernie was a featured soloist with the RCAF Concert Band, for which he did all his arranging and orchestration. This was a 60-piece band located in Edmonton, AB. He was forever experimenting for improvement on current harmonica models, but he also built many instruments of his own design. He designed and built many of his own tools for harmonica repair. His instruments, all hand made, were the envy of all pro’s who came to play them and marveled at them. ) Added note; one of his instruments, a bass 64 chromatic, was later used by Pete Pedersen in his recording of “An American in Paris” on the Hohner sampler album, “Heavy Duty Harpin”, released in 1984.) Those of us who were indeed fortunate to know Bernie have very warm and fond memories to sustain us. The passing of Bernie Bray has left an immeasurable void in the music world. We miss you, Bernie.
|
||||||
