Re: [Harp-L] u-blocking and right hand vs left

[Larry Marks <larry.marks@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

First as to right vs. left hand:  I think one can make up for just about
anything. Before writing this note, I tried the right-hand hold. It took
me very little time for me to find a way to cup the instrument
completely and to mute and unmute easily. As my tremolo is based on
breath, I do not know anything about the effect of shaking the
instrument to get a one. I certainly wouldn't listen to anyone tell me
that it is wrong or that you can't ever play well that way. If you have
the talent and the desire, you will do whatever comes naturally to you
and do it well. Conversely, I know musicians who have wasted years
trying to conform to the orthodox views on how to play their instruments
even though they sounded fine using "bad technique".

I get tons of crap about my u-blocking, mostly from people who don't
play as well as I do. I have absolutely no problem playing against
complex changes using overblows (rarely) or valved bends (mostly). My
tone is not thin. I have no problem playing rapid arpeggios. I can bend
easily and completely. I can play softly, which you sorta have to do if
you want to use valved bends. As a matter of fact, I usually play softly
since my control of the instrument is enhanced that way. I also find it
much easier to cleanly tongue a staccato arpeggio using u-blocking,
although I expect that people who are good at traditional tongue
blocking will tell me they have no problem either.

Bending and overblowing depend purely on the angle of the airflow with
respect to the reed, something I can control just as well and just as
easily with u-blocking as I could with traditional tongue blocking.

I have tried traditional tongue blocking and I don't like it. I have
absolutely no reason to believe that if I used traditional tongue
blocking I would sound better or be able to overcome problems with
control. Actually, I have no problems with control to overcome at present.

While I do not have an x-ray of my mouth in action. I can tell you that
I do not curl my tongue to play. The tongue already has a crease down
the middle. That's what I use.

Playing well and sounding good are the only criteria. How you achieve it
is up to you. Technical orthodoxy is a bunch of crap.


 -LM