Re: [Harp-L] Lip block (was "Any Help out there.")

["Dave Murray" <dlmurray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Is the pucker style a valid style? can people get good tone that way?

A week ago I inquired about this subject. Well, I worked on it and found 
that I can indeed put the harp far enough into my mouth that my lips are out 
to the cover screw holes (even with my skinny lips) and play single notes 
just fine, though it takes more accuracy than puckering up for the straw 
hole thing (I still often miss hitting clean notes, and have to make a quick 
adjustment to clean it up).

> Are there instances where puckering is better than lip blocking? for 
> example on specific holes or bends?

Makes me want to ask about bending. I'm still struggling with the low notes. 
I need to use my tongue to bend. There are people who can bend while tongue 
blocking with the tip of their tongue touching the harp. I can't begin to do 
that, I need to move my tongue tip, for higher draw bends, that's all I need 
to do. Actually, blow bends came very easy (7-9, yes, the 7), except that 
the tongue tip movement must be so subtle to avoid squeaks. I've tried 
looking/listening to a bunch of people's stuff in my discouraging quest and 
observe that there must be several ways to do bends, including with the tip 
of the tongue touching the harp. I'm not giving up on that, but have had no 
success so far. Seems like it would be useful if I could ever control my 
throat/neck muscles. I'll try any advice, 2nd position isn't very useful if 
you can't bend well.

Peace and music,
Dave