Harmonica musician still playing at 91

Martin Fortkamp, center, blows on the harmonica while his nephew Rolland and sister Violet play the guitar, at a recent performance at Willow Ridge. (Courtesy photo)

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Martin Fortkamp was a skinny 14-year-old when he began to play the harmonica.

Laying in bed late at night, blowing in, blowing out, he would pick out notes to the same song over and over.

His father gave him the harmonica, no small feat considering this was 1934 and every spare dime was needed.

"I used to go upstairs, lay on the bed, fool around with it," Fortkamp said. "It drove my brother, Art, crazy." Finally, he taught himself to play "Home Sweet Home."

After that, "I didn't have much trouble at all learning other songs."

About 84 of them, in fact, from "Buffalo Gal" to "Blue Moon." Fortkamp, now 91, is still riffing on the harmonica, but maybe with a little less gusto.

"I don't have the wind I used to have," he laughed. Still, that doesn't stop him from playing every now and then, with his sister, Violet, and nephew, Rolland, both who play guitars. Together, they form a trio of sorts and perform occasionally at Willow Ridge Retirement Community, where Fortkamp lives with his wife, Erma.

A lot has changed since Fortkamp first got his harmonica. For one, he no longer has to milk cows or pick corn all day.

Fortkamp grew up on the family farm southwest of Wauneta, Nebraska, where there was always plenty of work for him and his 11 siblings -- nine boys and three girls.

He was 5 years old when he was first put to work milking cows, he said.

Picking corn by hand was another job they did, back in the "dry years" when the corn was "practically on the ground."

This was before pivot irrigation and the corn was maybe about three feet tall, he said, not the six-foot giants seen today.

All that hard work meant that free time was relished.

"There wasn't much you could do for a pastime, but play ball or music," he said. "You couldn't come in and turn on the television."

Instead, they played music. And threw horseshoes. A lot of horseshoes. Playing even into the dark, when the cousins, aunts and uncles were around.

"Practice made me good," he recalled. "I learned how to throw ringers in the dark."

Throughout the years, Fortkamp kept up on the harmonica and garnered several trophies along the way for his skill at horseshoes.

The harmonica is not hard to learn, he said, "if you really want to learn it and practice a lot."

But kids don't have that kind of dedication and interest for that kind of thing these days, he said.

"They've got to learn on their own," he said, "and they're just not that interested...they'd rather play football."