Your Neighbor: Carol Pettengill

Carol Pettengill doesn’t know what attracts people to the harmonica, but, like so many of her students, she can’t stop playing.

“They just showed up and have never left,” she says of her harmonica students.

Pettengill has played the harmonica since she was a child and is the founder and instructor of Senior Friendship Centers’ harmonica band, Second Wind.

Pettengill moved in 2010 to Sarasota from Cambridge, Mass., where she lived with her partner, Liz Bergmann, after retiring from an administrative position in San Diego.

Soon after their move, Pettengill began teaching members of her church, the Center for Spiritual Awareness, to play the harmonica. Although she had played the harmonica for most of her life, this was Pettengill’s first time instructing others on how to play the instrument.

In 2011, Pettengill approached the Sarasota County Technical Institute about teaching a harmonica class.

She expected four or five students, however, the class became the most popular one offered. With a waiting list of 24 students, Pettengill had to teach three classes of 14 students a week for two semesters.

“People light up when they play,” she says.

Pettengill enjoys playing melodic songs by ear, which means she can play almost any song on her favorite harmonica, a Hohner diatonic.

When she performed at the Sun Circle Art Festival last week, her playlist included “Come Sail Away” by Styx and Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”

When she’s not teaching, Pettengill works on her book of songs for harmonica players, which she hopes to finish before next year.

Pettengill believes the harmonica’s popularity stems, in part, from its simplicity.

“It’s a simple little instrument that’s a lot of fun to play,” she says.

Neighborhood: Indian Beach/Sapphire Shores
Your neighbor since: 2012

Contact Harriet Sokmensuer at [email protected]