Oberton Pro Jaw Harp Center
The Oberton Pro Jaw Harp Center brings together an online shop, showroom, museum, workshop, audio/video studio and a venue for events and concerts. We devote the entire centre to jaw harps—there is no other place quite like it.
The Centre's main goals
1) Make a genuine choice possible. Beginners and experienced players alike can encounter the remarkable variety of this apparently simple instrument. In a quiet, welcoming atmosphere, visitors can take their time and try every jaw harp currently offered in the online shop, with specialist guidance whenever it is useful. With individual help, even somebody who has never seen a jaw harp can usually produce a clear first sound within five or ten minutes.
2) Develop the culture of the jaw harp as a musical instrument. We demonstrate how the instrument can be played, produce material in our studio and promote valuable work by other people. We explain the practical differences between instruments and draw makers' and players' attention to qualities that support learning and musical development, rather than only immediate novelty. Our own programme is suitable for different starting levels and combines general music theory with its practical application to the jaw harp.
We do not employ conventional “salespeople” and “managers.” The centre is run by enthusiasts who know jaw harps and sincerely try to share their experience with every visitor.
A short history
It began in 2008, when almost nobody in Russia—and particularly in St. Petersburg—had heard the word vargan. The few who had heard of the instrument had virtually no opportunity to buy one or even see one in person. A jaw harp happened to reach the future founder of Oberton Pro, Oleg Rodnin. After another year of searching and correspondence brought several more instruments, it became clear that this little object deserved serious attention. Personal curiosity and a desire to show the world that jaw harps exist in extraordinary variety led to the simplest first version of the online shop.
In 2010 we acquired our own premises. The shop was no longer only online and began to gather St. Petersburg jaw harp enthusiasts around it. We opened a workshop and held our first jaw harp concert.
In 2013 we held the first “Win a New Jaw Harp” competition and began systematically measuring physical parameters that even experienced players had rarely considered or described only as “more” and “less.”
In 2014 we held the first of our monthly jaw harp jam sessions.
In 2015 we opened the studio and offered free high-quality audio and video recording for jaw harp projects.
In 2017 we opened a full jaw harp school with a distinctive programme based on classical music theory.
In 2019 we won the e-commerce category of the Russian “Exporters: A New Level” Exporter of the Year award. A DHL Gold contract helped us provide international customers with world-class purchasing and delivery conditions.
In 2021 we moved to new premises and spent a year preparing the next version of the Centre.
In 2022 Oberton Pro 2.0 opened, once again taking the presentation and distribution of jaw harps to a new level.
Legal information
Individual entrepreneur Rodnin Oleg Yuryevich; registration no. 310784705700615; INN 783800416596; OKPO 0170768597; OKATO 40262563000; OKVED 52.6, 52.61, 52.61.1.
Registered address: 25 Bolshaya Morskaya Street, St. Petersburg 190000, Russia.
Shop address: 10A Soyuza Pechatnikov Street, St. Petersburg 190068, Russia.