RE: [Harp-L] Bending intonation...the regular kind

[J Compton <jofjltn4@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The roll of "Internet Responder", previously performed by Mike Fugazzi, will be performed this afternoon by understudy Jonathan Compton...
 
My guess is that he was referring to the "ton(e)" part of intonation.  (Yes, I realize the words are probably not derived from the other, but I can understand his confusion.)  I bet you already suspected that's what he meant though.
 
>From my personal experience, my early attempts at hitting the 2 and 3 draw bends sounded like a painful squawking duck call.  Now, with months of diligent practice (okay, that's a stretch...let's try that again)...now, after months of working on them occasionally when no one else is around usually while driving, I have reached a level where I am only closely resembling a squawking duck call.  Hey, it's progress.
 
(Here's the part where the newbie offers advice, as if he has a clue what he's talking about...)  My biggest leap in tone quality on the draw bends was when I stopped getting the bend with my lips and front of my tongue and started getting them further back on the tongue and more from the throat.  I think my best progress with that transition was when I started working on the bends while tongue blocking.  My guess is that further advancements in tone quality will come from increasing the volume/size of the mouth cavity while relaxing as many parts of the embouchure as possible...of course, while still hitting the note...oh, and practice.  WARNING: not only is this advice worth no more than you paid for it, but it's also from a total newbie with no actual professional instruction who has only progressed from "like a painful squawking duck call" to "closely resembling a squawking duck call".  The "secret" to true high-quality draw bend tone may be something entirely different.  If so, maybe someone who is actually there (and can remember how they got there from here) will clue us both in.Meanwhile, I'm going to keep at it as I try to pass milestones such as "moderately resembling a squawking duck call", "vaguely resembling a squawking duck call", "hey, that one didn't sound like a squawking duck call", "it's still a duck call, but it's a musical duck call" and maybe, just maybe, with lots of practice and on a good day with a little luck, I'll finally reach "four out of five listeners don't associate it immediately with a squawking duck call".
 
A guy can dream...
 
Jonathan "desthpicable" Compton



> Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 12:00:35 -0800> From: winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Bending intonation...the regular kind> To: mfugazzi67@xxxxxxxxx; harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx> CC: > > The term "intonation" refers to being in tune. But you say you're "in> pitch", so I take it that you're in tune on your bends and that you> mean something else. What might that be?> > Winslow<<<snipped...save the internet, recycle bandwidth...>>>