Re: [Harp-L] What happens when bending

["Rick Dempster" <rick.dempster@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

My impression of the mechanics of bending is that the tongue works to change the size of the resonating chamber, while the larynx (ie vocal chords) 'choke' the airstream so that the air is forced to move more quickly, in a finer stream, and at greater pressure, thus causing the reed to oscillate faster. This action is similar to pressing your thumb over the end of a hosepipe so that, although the same volume of water passes the opening in the same amount of time, it must move more quickly.
I also suspect, through watching the action of the reed in a mirror, that not only does the reed oscillate faster when pressure is increased, but that a greater length of reed is activated; when the reed is drawn without bending, it appears to oscillate widely, with most of the movement concentrated towards the free-end.
When the bend is applied, the oscillation appears narrower, faster, and distributed down a greater length of the reed.
A note can be bent simply by pinching the lips while keeping the volume of air ie the pressure applied by the diaphragm the same.
The old hillbilly guys called note bending 'choke harp', and I reckon they were spot on.
RD
>>> Winslow Yerxa <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx> 7/10/2008 11:15 >>>
This is the sort of first-hand evidence that's needed.

However, because something moves does not mean that it's an agent. It may simply be pulled or pushed along by the prevailing winds.

It's interesting to read how different the experience of players is when they bend. What to make of these varying experiences and conclusions?

Beyond what seems reasonable from personal experience and observation (including mine), distinguishing what moves from what is actually making the note bend requires understanding of both anatomy and physics. it'd be nice to see a thorough investigation using multiple players, full vocal/respiratory tract ultrasound, etc., followed by a detailed examination of the physics.

Winslow 

Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5


--- On Mon, 10/6/08, Steve Baker <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: Steve Baker <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] What happens when bending
> To: "Harp-L" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Date: Monday, October 6, 2008, 2:23 PM
> In 2002 I served as guinea pig for a group of medical
> researchers in  
> the ear, nose & throat department at Hamburg University
> Hospital who  
> were investigating wind instruments. They stuck an
> endoscopic camera  
> through my nose and down into the throat in order to film
> the larynx  
> and pharynx from above while I played. An external camera
> with sound  
> recording filmed neck and head from the side. On the
> resulting video  
> it's possible to observe both bending and vibrato from
> inside the  
> throat. On the basis of this material I would say that
> although the  
> middle part of the tongue (which we couldn't flm at the
> same time)  
> clearly must play an important role when bending, the
> activity  
> definitely continues right down into the pharynx. The vocal
> folds  
> also play a much greater role than I had anticipated in
> articulating  
> individual notes as well as creating vibrato. I will be
> including  
> excerpts from this film in a forthcoming instructional DVD,
> 
> Steve
> 
> Steve Baker
> steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
> www.stevebaker.de 
> www.bluesculture.com 
> www.youtube.com/stevebakerbluesharp 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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