Re: "upside down" embouchure

[Pat Missin <pat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jp wrote:

>i've picked up a harp accidentally and played it
>upside down (and have heard some musicians play their
>harps (well) upside down, as a novelty). i've never
>noticed a difference in either my tone or theirs
>between the "right side up" and "upside down" ways of
>playing.

There is one difference - when you play it upside down, the draw reeds
are now on top of the comb and the blow reeds below it. That might
possibly make it sound a little different to the player, but not to
the audience.

On a (possibly) related note, the earliest Marine Bands were made
"upside down". That is to say that when you hold them with the low
notes to the left, the lower cover has the picture of Herr Hohner and
the upper cover has the trademark symbol. They changed this to the
more modern arrangement some time between 1915 and 1920-ish, adding
the hole numbers at this time. I have wondered if this is why some
older players played the instrument
back-to-front/upside-down/wrong-way-around/whatever-you-want-to-call-it.

 -- Pat.