[Harp-L] Excessive salivating (yuck)



I took a minute to go back in time in the archives (I picked the month/year my daughter was born: 06/94) to see what people were posting back in the cave-man days. I saw a couple of (because of the subject:tentative and apologetically toned) posts about controlling salivation while playing....... I have always had the problem of saliva accumulation when playing a lot on stage. I mention the stage part because (yea I know it's not good form) I tend to play my diatonics hard when soloing. Anyway sometimes I'm up there with people who require an extended solo from me. And there I am: "In the pocket", "spitting fire'' "flowing towards an effusive crescendo", and one of my reeds chokes and sticks. I can't slap it out on my thigh during my solo so I just play around the unfriendly reed until I can trade the key out for a backup (I always have one because of such problems). Decades ago I began using Golden Melody's because salivation invariably swelled the wooden combs up. Inclining my head helps a little mechanically but when your moving to your music that's hard to sustain. Any specific suggestions on reducing saliva accumulation while playing long solos. p.s. I'm a health professional and would never utilize an anticholinergic (dries you out) so I don't need that suggestion anymore than I need platitudes about not playing so hard. After all blowing out reeds keeps Hohner in business. Like I said: "yuck". d
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