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

["Steve Shaw" <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

> >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


Good man, Jonathan.  An awful lot more of us than those who'd care to admit 
it are in exactly the same boat...

Steve


http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/trad_irish_harmonica
HEAR my CD clips: http://www.gjk2.com/steveshaw/cd.htm

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