Re: [Harp-L] Throat Vibrato (and grunting)

[Colin Epstein <colin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Howard Chandler wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I've alway's felt kind of insecure about the grunting sounds that I 
> sometimes get when using my thoat to control airflow on draw notes 
> (especially bent ones), for vibrato and other effects.  It was kind of 
> reassuring to hear del Junco producing these same kind of sounds on 
> the video clip posted recently.  I have to say, it's not all that 
> noticable, and dosen't sound bad or anything when he does it, but I 
> guess I picked up on it since it's kind of something I can sometimes 
> obsess about.  Anyway, does anyone else know what I mean?  Any tips to 
> minimize or compensate for this? 


Hey,

Complete newbie chiming in.  Harp-L member for three whole days.

I've noticed a lot of very accomplished players produce those grunts.  I 
was just listening to Lester Butler on the Red Devils album (a personal 
fave), and there's some grunting going on there, as there was on the 
video clip you mentioned.  I've wondered about it, 'cause I don't get it 
when I play, but never minded it really.  To my ear it gives a very 
organic percussion to the sound, as long as the grunting's within reason.

Me, I get a little growl on some of my bends as my tongue pulls back far 
enough to put a slight gargle in my throat.  Not initially intentional, 
but I've learned to use it a bit.

There's a lot of different breath and tongue techniques I've learned of 
since I recently jumped back into playing and web research.  I'm stricly 
a pucker player at this point, but I'm gonna have to try tongue blocking 
and some of these different vibrato methods.

--
Colin Epstein