Re: [Harp-L] Teaching to bend

[Dave Murray <dmurray777@xxxxxxx>]

I had a very hard time learning to bend notes. My first successful bends
were with the tongue/vowels method. The problem was that it only worked
with relatively high notes. I had no success at the low end of a low
harp like an A or G. Finally, I discovered choking the air using the
throat. It worked for the low notes, but it took quite a bit of time to
get control (always bent all the way down).

After a really long time I discovered the diaphragm. Opening the throat
and making the ooo of the eee-ooo with my abs, deep inhale, something
(hard to describe). It's as if I am enlarging the mouth/throat cavity
all the way to my gut. I don't know if it's really doing what I am
describing, or if that's just my mind's perception. At any rate, for me,
the tongue alone didn't get it for low notes.

For blow bends, which are still challenging for me to use in a musical
context, I once again had trouble with the tongue alone and found that
abdominal pressures made a big difference.

The bottom line of my rambling, with all due respect to my betters, is
that we are all different, with different oral cavities. What works for
one person may not work for others in certain circumstances. Some
combination of tongue, jaw, throat, and diaphragm will work for
different notes with different people. I probably could have suffered
far fewer feelings of inadequacy if I had understood that from the
beginning.

Peace and music,
Dave