Tongue-block overblows?

["George Brooks" <gbrooks@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Richard Lister inquires:

>do people play TB overblows, and can
>anyone give me any pointers?

Well, not me, unfortunately (I pucker).   But people do.  Two of them, Kirk
(Jellyroll) Johnson and Joe Filisko, will be at SPAH.  The chance to have
your question answered by them in person would, alone, make the trip worth
it.  Jellyroll has been one of the participant's in Joe's "teach-in" for the
past couple of years, and if that is the case this year, you would almost
certainly be able to get some one-on-one time with him.  He is one on the
top Nashville studio players, he overblows, and he told me last year he does
*everything* from a tongue-block.

Joe will, of course, also be at SPAH, and might be willing to give you some
pointers.

But try this: get a good, full resonant tone on the 4 draw bend using a
tongue-block and then, with no change in your jaw position, try to get the 4
overblow to sound.  With a pucker, I have found going from the draw bend to
the overblow in the same hole to be a good practice technique for getting a
fuller tone on the overblow.  I think it forces the player to produce the
overblow from farther back in the throat though, in truth, I am not sure
what is going on in there.  But the technique works for me, and it might be
transferable to tongue-block.

George