Re: [Harp-L] Sore Mouth From Playing Chromatic

[Eugene Ryan <ryan.eugene@xxxxxxxxx>]

I also had problems with chromatic harmonica some time ago, with the lips
being cut when I played, especially when I increased the time spent
practising.  It turned out to to be a mechanical problem - wear and tear,
but was solvable, and it's likely to be solvable in your case too.  As well
as playing fairly aggressively, I was putting the chromatic mouthpiece quite
deep into my mouth in order to get a good tone, but my embouchure was very
loose, so the mouthpiece was rubbing on the "outside" part of the lips,
rather than the inner parts that are kept wet.

The solution was to push out with the corners of the lips and keep the
mouthpiece in contact with the wet parts.  It's been a bit of a balancing
act between keeping the harmonica wet, keeping the lips firm but not tense
and keeping the harmonica in close enough to get a good tone.

Can you give us more detail on how the problem occurs - where are the lips
hurting, is it a mechanical/wear-and-tear thing or does it look like an
allergy, do you tongue block, etc?  Also which harmonica?  Some chromatic
models have somewhat sharper holes.

Eugene