RE: [Harp-L] Lip block/bending/tone (long)

["MLeFree" <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dave Murray wrote:
> 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).

Dave, here's my (abbreviated, believe it or not) take on embouchures, tone
and such...

A central idea to strive for in any embouchure is to remove as much
obstruction at the target hole as possible and still be able to hit a single
note.  When one uses a constricted embouchure (i.e., one with an aperture
that's too small), such as your so-called "straw hole" pucker, one is
restricting the air flow through the harmonica at the lip/comb interface.
Bad.  If you open up your oral aperture sufficiently to remove said
restriction to the air flow--regardless of the embouchure--you will take the
first step towards better tone.  If you measure the width and height of a
hole in a harmonica comb, you will see that it's pretty small (e.g., 4.0mm x
4.8mm on a SP-20).  Yet if you include the two scepta between the
neighboring holes you will see that your oral aperture can be much wider
(e.g., 11 mm; nearly 3 times as wide) and still encompass only a single
hole.  Just how "tall" your oral aperture probably doesn't matter so much to
air flow through the hole in the comb (as long as it isn't so small as to
restrict air flow), but it ~can~ increase the volume of your oral cavity.
And the bigger your oral cavity and airways are the "bigger" your tone will
get due to increased resonance.  (The old advice is "eat that harp."  Guess
what? You need to "open wide" to eat a harp...)

While on the subject of resonance and air flow and how they affect tone, one
thing I learned when using pucker is the need to be more cognizant of where
my tongue is inside my mouth.  With a U-block or a Tongue-block you have far
less freedom as to where your tongue resides, and due to these embouchures'
very nature, players using them almost automatically keep their tongue "out
of the way" of the air flowing around and through their mouths.  These
latter two embouchures, again by nature, form "channels" for the air to flow
past (through, beside...) the tongue.  Not so with a pucker embouchure,
especially when the player uses their tongue to form their bends using
speech-like oral sound formation (e.g., eeee-oooo, etc., the method most
easily taught and hence the easiest and most common way to execute a bend).
Then that tongue is plumb right in the middle of things in terms of anything
resembling a channel through which the air could flow and the volume (and
hence resonance) inside the mouth is reduced as well.  I think this the
source of the rumor that pucker equals lesser tone.  The solution is
two-fold.  One, finding new ways to bend that don't interpose the tongue in
the middle of the airstream through the oral cavity.  I'll speak to that
next.  The other is to get that tongue out of the way when it isn't a
deliberate part of your embouchure or tone.  To do that, you need to
constantly be aware of where your tongue is and keep it down on the bottom
of your mouth so that it doesn't "flap in the breeze" or obstruct air flow.

> ...Makes me want to ask about bending. I'm still struggling with the low
notes.
> I need to use my tongue to bend.

Methinks that's what's limiting your bending, as I was saying earlier.

> There are people who can bend while tongue
> blocking with the tip of their tongue touching the harp.

Ah ha!

> 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.

You have, perhaps inadvertently, identified the "secret" to bending without
the tip of the tongue.  It's all about resonance.  High notes need small
resonant chambers.  Low notes (and good tone) need larger ones.

As an aside, the fact that the higher bends require such a small movement of
your tongue makes them difficult to control.  I know I have far better
control over my higher bends now that I use the back of my tongue and throat
instead of the tip of my tongue to create them.

> 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.

Ok, I ~guess~ I'll give it a shot...

> 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.

I think you are on the right track there on both counts, Dave.  The ability
to create those bends, inside some player's minds at least, more than
compensates for the (apparent) lack of chromaticity in a diatonic harp.  You
might as well take full advantage of it!

My own moment of enlightenment (with respect to bending anyway...  ;) came
upon my former teacher's insistence that I learn to U-block.  (He uses UB
exclusively.)  Until I managed to do that my bending was stuck at the same
level yours seem to be, limited to using the tip of my tongue to get sort of
"sickly" bends (at least mine were sickly; they sounded weak and sort of
"windy" and I had trouble getting to the fully bent notes).  As you have
noted, when the tip of your tongue is anchored somewhere at the front of
your mouth (in addition to Tongue-blocking, there are varying degrees of
U-blocking), you have to find other "tools" to create your bends.

Since you know how to bend with your tongue, you already know one key
element of a successful "throat" bend.  That is the slight pressure gradient
that you create by making a "constriction point"--now likely at your "k"
spot (as often taught).  You need to learn to create the "constriction
point" in the back of your throat instead of inside your mouth.  And that,
as you correctly surmised, depends on the ability to control the musculature
of your throat.  The key is learning to expand and contract your throat
comfortably and at will.  Expanding your throat is just like saying "ah" for
the doctor's tongue depressor.  In fact that very (initially slightly
uncomfortable) feeling of getting your throat wide open and your tongue way
down on the bottom of your mouth and out of the way is the best reference I
can offer to someone learning to bend resonantly (and to achieve good tone,
for that matter).  Get used to it; make it your ally (your harmonica playing
and your doctor will thank you  :).  As I said, you also need to be able to
contract the muscles at the back of your throat and tongue to create that
necessary "constriction point" (albeit a much larger and deeper-down
constriction point than the tongue's "k" spot).  Lastly, you need to learn
to do these things in synchrony with dropping (and raising) your jaw.
Experiment with those elements and you will soon get the idea.  Once you
have that, it is purely a matter of the woodshed.

As always, you should also be getting into the habit of using good posture
and standing if possible when you play.  Hold your head high and straighten
out that windpipe!  Loosen that belt and lift that chest to give your
diaphragm room to move, and then use it!  Each little element adds up and
they all interplay together.  It's a matter of making them second nature so
you can think only about the music you are making.

That should help some, Dave.  Good luck, and let us know how you do.

Michelle