[Harp-L] Sorry, I'm feeling a bit nosy

[Jonathan Hill <jonathan.f.hill@xxxxxxxxx>]

I noticed the other night at one of our shows that my nose seemed to
be getting in the way of my playing. Basically, we were using a
borrowed P.A. (because our band can't afford one yet) and the guy
running the P.A. seemed to be fighting me the whole night (he'd turn
me up when I wanted to be down in the mix and vice versa). So when it
came time for a solo, I turned up and in an effort to be heard, I was
blowing pretty hard. I noticed there were a couple of times where I
meant to draw and snorted (or something) instead and completely
blocked the note coming out. Very frustrating. Dave Barrett asked me
if I was closing my nose when I played when I attended his Masterclass
and I didn't know. He told me I had good tone and was a good player,
but I seemed to run out of breath during my solos. Howard Levy says
that most harp players close their nose naturally and that its
difficult to play overblows unless you do. Now I do play overblows and
am getting better at it as I go, but I do seem to have some kind of
problem with my nose. Can someone help me zero in on what this might
be and how I might correct it?

Thanks,

Jon