RE: [Harp-L] Throat Vibrato - Finally

["MLeFree" <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

samblancato wrote:
> ...There are a couple of things about throat vibrato that I has to learn
that I
> really didn't read any place, on anyone's site, or in any posts and I just
> want to touch on it here because these things were key in my learning to
get
> this part of my tone.  For one thing, the placement of the tongue was
really
> important for me...
> As I fooled around with this I discovered that this positioning of the
tongue
> allowed me to open up the back of my mouth - and my throat- so that the
> choking off of air could be done in the right way to produce that very
rich
> vibrato tone.

YES!!!  Sam, ~that~ is a landmark moment on a harper's journey.  I had a
very similar moment of enlightenment, also spurred by attempts to use an
embouchure that involved anchoring the tip of the tongue at the front of my
mouth--in my case, the U-block.  Once you've "discovered" the muscles that
control the back of your tongue and throat, a whole new world opens up to
you (as a harper anyway  ;).  I bet you'll soon be revisiting your overall
bending technique and will be able to make deeper bends more easily and with
greater control.  Betchya TB bending comes far easier now, too.  You will
also be receiving the dividends of opening the back of your throat to your
tone in general.  What a beautiful little instrument!  What a great
"discovery"!

> ...So I hope (but kind of doubt) this description might help other
intermediate
> players master throat vibrato.  If I had played around with this
embouchure
> 2 years ago I would have gotten tv much, much earlier on.

It's so hard to articulate, yet it is such a major building block.  I knew
exactly what you were talking about.  Just pointing it out was a good thing;
hopefully it spurred some who don't understand on to find out for
themselves.

BTW, you must have missed my "U-block revelations" post some time back (I
think it was this list...).  It's nearly a carbon copy of yours.  8^)

> But it still feels good to finally get it!

I'm here to testify to that!  And there are further benefits to using the
muscles at the back of the tongue and throat beyond your throat vibrato.  I
think that the general belief that tongue block yields better tone than the
pucker embouchure is due to this very technique (necessity, ability,
whatever you wannacallit).  A player who "only" puckers may never discover
it.  I don't know how long I might have gone on with thin tone had I not
discovered the importance of using the back of the throat and tongue via my
efforts to learn other embouchures besides pucker, which is what I started
with.  This is another prime example of why players should stretch their
technical abilities.  There's often benefit to be found beyond the ability
to use a new technique you've developed, even if you don't choose to apply
that technique directly.  For example, I don't use U-block much but I am
glad I made the effort to learn it because: 1) now I can; and 2) I picked up
several little "gems" on my road to learning it.

Interestingly, this is an echo of the wisdom offered by the sage Tim Moyer
(as well as Ken, Chis and others in passing) in the current overblow
discussion.  It was Tim who pointed out that he was glad he learned to OB
even though he doesn't often apply OB's musically, because it brought with
it other unexpected benefits to his overall technique, as well as
reinvigorating his then stagnating interest in playing at all (I hope I got
that right, Tim).  Since I am mostly interested in acoustic blues and
"old-timey" music, I don't aspire to even toss my hat into the OB
discussion, let alone knock at the doors of Chris' "super duper elitest
overblow club."  Right now there is so much unplowed territory for me just
playing "diatonically" that I don't think I'll be trying OB's for some time
yet.  When I do it will because I know it will make me a more "complete"
harmonicist.  And, I'll be looking for those "ancillary" benefits Tim aludes
to.

Congratulations, Sam.  And thanks for sharing that moment.

Michelle (who thinks Gindick's "...5 years to master" is a pretty gross
underestimation)