Re: [Harp-L] teaching tool - tongue blocking

[Music Cal <macaroni9999@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Robert

That little demonstration helped me a lot. Winslow was the pro that was
demonstrating the blocking. What I learned from that
demo was that the tongue is actually a bit in the way of the holes that you
do not want to block. So I just relaxed a bit - did not
try so hard to focus my tongue on just the holes to be blocked - and I
started getting the results I was after.

There is one caveat to demonstrations like these. Since the player -
Winslow in this case - could not receive aural feedback
with respect to how well he was blocking then these demonstrations may not
yield entirely accurate images of the tongue
placement. But it did the trick for me (got me over a learning hump) and I
would recommend this aid to any teacher or
student interested in learning to block.

MusiCal




On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 7:37 AM, Mike Fugazzi <mikefugazzi@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> That's what I was thinking...Clint Hoover uses the mouthpiece of a
> chromatic like that to show tb'ing.  That was a great tool, IMO.  He really
> made that technique accessible to me.
>
>
> On Tuesday, September 4, 2012 11:00:44 PM UTC-5, Music Cal wrote:
>
>> Hi Robert
>>
>> I have a CX12 shell that I used for that very purpose. Not as a teacher
>> but
>> as a student.
>>
>> Here's a link to some pics of a well known pro demonstrating tongue
>> blocking with just such a shell:
>>
>> http://www.slidemeister.com/**forums/index.php?topic=5254.0<http://www.slidemeister.com/forums/index.php?topic=5254.0>
>>
>> MusiCal
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 7:36 PM, Robert Hale <rob...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > On Tue, Sep 4, 2012 at 1:10 PM, Music Cal <macaro...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >
>> >> what did David's teaching tool demonstrate about tongue blocking?
>> >>
>> >> It was a small piece of black plastic, cut out to simulate the holes
>> of
>> > the harp. It allows the teacher to demonstrate  the tongue block moves
>> > (silently) and be observed by the student.
>> >
>> > Robert Hale
>> >
>> > Spiral Advocate
>> >
>> > Learn Harmonica by Webcam
>> >
>> > Low Rates, High Success
>> >
>> > http://www.youtube.com/**DUKEofWAIL <http://www.youtube.com/DUKEofWAIL>
>> >
>> > http://www.dukeofwail.com
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>