Re: Re: [Harp-L] U-blocking

["john" <jjthaden@xxxxxxxxx>]

Try this:  Stick your tongue out but with your lips wide.  Put your index finger on top of the tip of your tongue.  Use your tongue muscles to apply pressure upwards on your index finger.  See if your tongue doesn't form a channel or U.  The key is that the tip of your tongue is trapped below the mouthpiece or on the lower cover plate below the played hole.  Any upward pressure (and some forward pressure) by the tongue will cause the edges of it to raise up.
-John Thaden



======= At 2008-05-23, 02:13:31 you wrote: =======

>I thought Robert had emailed me offlist, so I answered him duly. I then I sent him another...her they are:
>
>I'll try it Robert, but offhand, I can't see it. If I do it 'sans harp', I simply can't hold the sides of my tongue up without the support of the corners of my mouth. Still, the mouth being such a complex group of muscles, I'll try to 'imagine' my way there. It has worked for other seemingly impossible practices.
>Thanks for taking the time to reply,
>Rick Dempster, 
>Melbourne, Australia
>
>Hey Robert...I think I might have it! if I push all of my tongue but the tip into the pallette cavity, I can hold the 'U' with my mouth corners free. Still struggling, but I'm almost there. Wonder if that's what you're doing....?
>RD
>
>
>>>> "G. E. Popenoe" <gpopenoe@xxxxxxxxx> 23/05/2008 16:49 >>>
>You know, I experimented with the U-block and found that the sides of the
>mouth are not needed to support the U.
>
>On Thu, May 22, 2008 at 8:42 PM, Robert Bonfiglio <BON@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> Hey Rick,
>>
>> From Hong Kong now where I am performing the Villa-Lobos Harmonica Concerto
>> and the Sir George Martin "Three American Sketches" with the City Chamber
>> Orchestra of Hong Kong -
>>
>> Yes, I curl my tongue to play the D and play the octave A's from the
>> corners of my mouth.  Very Medieval sounding and dangerous.  Try playing the
>> octaves first and getting the D in the center second.
>>
>> Harmonically yours,
>>
>> Robert Bonfiglio
>> http://www.robertbonfiglio.com 
>>
>>
>> On May 20, 2008, at 8:38 PM, Rick Dempster wrote:
>>
>> I didn't notice the appended post of Robert Bonfiglio's. I had actually
>>> wondered, not being a regular 'U' blocker, whether it was possible to play a
>>> 'double block' as Robert mentions here. Have I got this right? To play
>>> 'A-D-A', you would have to play the two 'A's respectively out of each corner
>>> of the mouth, then use the 'U' channel to select the 'D, blocking the B and
>>> the F. Now I'm not bad at tongue blocking and switching, and as I might have
>>> mentioned before, have found that I can convert this skill into whistling
>>> two-part harmonies as well. But if I try what Robert is talking about, I
>>> find that I need the corners of my mouth to support the tongue-channel (or
>>> 'U') Does that mean, Robert, that you can curl your tongue to form the
>>> channel WITHOUT support at the sides from your mouth??
>>> RD
>>>
>>>  _______________________________________________
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>>
>
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= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
			

Best regards.				 
john
jjthaden@xxxxxxxxx
2008-05-23