Re: [Harp-L] Tongue Trill

[Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

Rapid alternation of two notes with just the tongue?

I used to do it with adjacent holes when playing in a rack while I played harmonica. But I found for some reason that I could only do it when rack playing. If I held the harp I couldn't get the tongue tip small enough to alternate between just two holes. The sound always reminded me a little of Sonny Terry's sound, though I have no idea if he did that.

However, for non-adjacent holes, I use tongue motino and so did Little Walter (Oh Baby is one example - cover three holes, block two, and move your tongue from side to side to alternate between corners of the mouth).

For alternating adjacent holes you can just move the harp. It's a very small hand motion. Harp-and-hand(even with a mic) involves less mass than moving your head. It's a bit easier to control than your tongue  as it doesn't require a tiny movement of a relatively large object (tongue) in a tiny space (hole in your mouth and harmonica holes). To me it sounds like Walter moved the harp and not his head; head shakers get a different sound to my ear, more aggressive sounding and less fluid.

By the way, "trill" has a specific meaning in standard music terminology, and alternating adjacent harmonica holes mostly doesn't fit. You're less likely to offend non-harmonica musicians if you call it a "shake' or a "warble" or a "roll." For it to be a trill, the two notes have to be adjacent notes in the scale so that they set up a dissonance and create tension.  Alternating Draw 6 and Draw 7 is a trill, properly speaking (A and B on a C harp), while alternating Draw 4 and 5 (F and A) is not, as F and A are not adjacent in the scale. 

Winslow

----- Original Message ----
From: Wolf Kristiansen <wolfkristiansen@xxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2007 4:20:52 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] Tongue Trill


Thanks to all who replied, both on-list and off-list,
to my question about tongue flutter.  All of the
suggested approaches (they varied) will be used as I
attempt to acquire this skill.  

So, here's a related question, directed especially to
those who use it.  Does anybody generate a trill (two
rapidly alternating adjacent notes on the harmonica)
using the tongue alone?  That is, with no head-shake
at all? If you do, I'd love to hear a description of
how you do it, so I can try that too.

Our local blues band, Thunderbird (no relation to "The
Fabulous Thunderbirds", and now long gone), had the
pleasure of warming up for James Cotton on three or
four occasions in the mid to late 70s at the Commodore
Ballroom in Vancouver, B.C. I was the harp player.  

I had many conversations about blues harp with James
during those times.  One I remember vividly was about
how to make a trill, though I don't think he called it
that.  I've seen variations of this story in print,
but here's what he told me:

When he was starting out in Chicago (having moved up
from Memphis or Helena) he asked Little Walter how he
made that sound (a trill). Walter said, "Sure, I'll
show you", pulled out a harmonica, turned his back on
James, and produced the trill without moving his head.
That was the end of the one and only lesson Little
Walter gave on this point. It left James no further
ahead.

James told Otis Spann what happened.  Otis said (here
I'm quoting James), "It ain't nothin' but this"-- and
played two alternating notes on the piano, at first
slowly and then rapidly to produce the characteristic
sound of a trill as heard on the harmonica.  James
told me that's how he finally got it. 

My point, for this topic, is that it's pretty clear to
me that Little Walter, at least sometimes, produced
trills with his tongue. Anybody else do it, especially
as their preferred method? 

Cheers,

Wolf


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